


Of Suns and Stars

by Arsyn_in_Heaven



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Blood, Canon Divergence, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Kryptonite, Romance, Slowburn Superlane, might change to M later, multi-chapter, superlane, they're both idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-07-14 20:04:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7188152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsyn_in_Heaven/pseuds/Arsyn_in_Heaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy Lane can't seem to figure Kara out. Or Supergirl. Or her own damn head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Genesis

Lucy had tried her very hardest to dislike Kara Danvers. When she walked in the room, Lucy would take 2 whole deliberate seconds (Mississippi level) before replying to Kara’s effortlessly cheery “Hey Lucy!” She’d even managed to dial back her own enthusiastic reply by a whole octave so that she didn’t sound like a prepubescent, tenor-in-the-choir, 12 year old boy. After Kara would hold open the door for Lucy, or help her carry a stack of papers to Cat’s desk, or - _god_ \- after Kara would pull out Lucy’s chair for her to sit in, she’d managed to only flash the required polite smile in response.

It was infuriating, how un-infuriating Kara was. Well, that thought had helped her manufacture some small fury, an inkling of dislike- that is, until she next saw her with her own two actual eyes the day after said revelation and she was smacked with what was decidedly, unfortunately, unchangingly... _like_.

And she really, really shouldn’t like Kara. Lucy wasn’t blind to Kara’s little crush on James, and Lucy also wasn’t without a competitive streak. In fact, this competitive streak could probably been seen from space- something she’d ask Supergirl if she wasn’t already too busy competing with her. It’s just that Lucy had just grown to manufacture an entire identity _against_ people. She wasn’t like Lois because she was less of a hot head (though, she had her moments she wouldn’t fess up to, i.e. moving to National City on a whim). So, she was practical. She wasn’t like her father because she wasn’t narrow-minded (though, there were certain kinds of people she’d simply refuse to put up with, such as liars.) So, she was tolerant. She wasn’t like her mom (a consideration that had its own baggage) because she wasn’t as soft or sweet. So, she was sharp and sour. No matter what connotation lay behind these traits, Lucy had clung to them. If she hadn’t, she’d have been left behind. What Lucy wasn’t made her what she was; and she needed what she was to be- simply put- better.

So when Kara Danvers walked into James’ office, too comfortably and then suddenly so obviously _un_ comfortably, Lucy was ready. She already had the box open and ready for Kara to enter. You know, the Box of Problematic Women™ that so far contained Lois (for obvious reasons), a slew of women that made the poor choice of trying to compete with her too forcefully, and oddly, Clark. She would have a box for men, or just a general Problematic People™ box, but Lucy always had a little more trouble with women than with men. Most of her childhood had been spent around male army brats, and she had difficulty letting go of the ‘guy’s girl’ title she’d assumed. After her angsty rebellious teen years had settled and she discovered make-up, she began working on being more of a girl’s girl.

The thing is, usually she had more trouble with it, and the easy way Kara worked her way into Lucy’s life made her suspicious. Lucy found herself over sharing about James, of all things, to her in the middle of Noonan’s. Repeatedly. This mindless decision was only made worse by the way Kara would listen intently, sympathetically, and then offer up solutions to make their relationship work. Kara would even go to James, sometimes, to help smooth things over- something Lucy would consider overstepping if she _hadn’t wrapped poor Kara up in the damn situation in the first place_. Her slight guilt at making Kara solve her crush’s relationship problems was only increased by how well it always seemed to work. Lucy often found herself mulling over whether or not James and she would still be together had Kara not intervened repeatedly. But it wasn’t Lucy’s fault, really. Kara was just so open, so easy to talk to. She was...comfortable. No, that wasn’t quite the descriptor. Relaxing? Relax-inducing? Something... easy.

_And she’s like the friggin sun_ , Lucy had sorrowfully lamented one day, watching her awkwardly shuffle through Noonan’s for her order and then end up talking to the bar keep for fifteen minutes about his grandmother. She was warm and bright and consistently there, with a 1000 watt smile in the works. Lucy would roll her eyes if her face would obey her instead of stupidly lifting into a smile. Honestly, Lucy wanted to sue for emotional distress. Of course, no judge would rule against damn Sunny Danvers, not that she’d be able to list a single point against her. Over sharing and smirks and smiles that refused to be stifled had her mouth misbehaving, and not in the way Lucy preferred.

In fact, her mouth knew Lucy liked Kara long before her brain did.

“You have new friends; Kara, who I really like,” she’d told James not long after she met Kara. Her mouth even decided that she _really_ liked Kara- something Lucy had felt awkward about saying out loud to James for some reason. Maybe she didn’t want him to know how eager she was to stay in National City? Trying to play it cool? That didn’t quite ring true, but she’d figure it out later.

Almost everyone was fond of Kara, and it wasn’t difficult to see how that came about. The girl seemed to have a personal relationship with 90% of the people she came in contact with, and that was just who Lucy saw when she was present. Once, when Kara left the scene to acquire a Supergirl themed Iced Latte (The Freezey Breath) from a place across town for Cat, Noonan’s bartender immediately told Lucy the story of when Kara travelled to a facility an hour away to pick up his grandmother from a home when she was kicked out and he couldn’t make it. She then created a GoFundMe for him so they could pay for her to return to it. One of the waitresses had a similar story. She was practically a freaking celebrity.

That alone made Lucy suspicious. She hated celebrities. They never lived up to what they appeared to be at first glance. They were stars that had everyone looking up, (up and away). Supergirl was a star, not a hero. Lois was a star, not a journalist. All anyone talked about was how bright they shone, but all Lucy felt was how far away they were. Lucy would never wish upon a star, not when the sun was around the corner; close and real and warm and _there_.

But as much as Lucy loved the sun, and as ready as Lucy was to make some real friends in National City, she was suspicious of Kara. Her stomach was doing… something... every time Kara appeared, and Lucy always followed her gut. Kara had to be hiding something behind those shining teeth. Some major flaw, some dark past. A bite. Maybe her bright disposition was all an elaborate hoax hiding a sociopath! Or maybe not... But if if her experience in the field had taught her anything, if her education in becoming a lawyer had given her any talent at uncovering the truth, Lucy Lane would figure Kara ‘Sunny’ Danvers out.

And thus began Operation Solar Storm.


	2. Acts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of Lucy's Operation Solar Storm, Supergirl drops in (literally) and accidentally enlists Lucy's help in a little problem...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is later an update than I intended, but this chapter had a mind of it's own. I didn't expect it to be this length, so a lot happens. You're welcome and I'm sorry?

Lucy’s plans for ~~world domination~~ Figuring Out™ Kara were not going so well. The very first item on the Operation Solar Storm agenda was falling through. It wasn’t because Kara wasn’t responding desirably, it was more because mission number one was simply ‘Make a plan’.

Lucy pondered her options while sitting in James’ office, waiting for him to get back from the thai food place Kara had recommended they try a few days ago. What Kara had failed to mention was that it was halfway across the city, something they’d only gleaned when James put the driving directions into his gps. Unfortunately, thanks to Kara’s glowing recommendation, they’d spent over 50 dollars on this order. Lucy was hoping to eat the leftovers over the course of the week when she worked with her father at the DEO. He had her working overtime as his legal counsel in manners corresponding with the organization, and Lucy had an eerie suspicion that he was planning something big.

So, James decided pull a Supergirl and bite the bullet, driving there while Lucy sat and mulled over her predicament. Lucy certainly had tactics for figuring out the truth. In fact, she was excellent at gaging if someone was lying. In her teen years she’d been slightly obsessed with the topic of truth, and subsequently, how people behaved when lying. After all, she’d become a lawyer. And thus she knew what various mannerisms meant, she knew how speech patterns altered when thought about too much, and she was naturally attuned to personalities. For instance, she knew that Supergirl was hiding something from her. The way her eyes darted away when Lucy sought them out. How she’d duck her head slightly as Lucy walked by. The way her breath would catch when Lucy got too close. There was only one explanation: she somehow knew Lucy would figure her out. White teeth and blonde hair weren’t enough to distract Lucy, and the hero knew it. She would be flattered if she weren’t so annoyed by it all.

_Whatever. One mystery at a time._

Kara. She should’ve been so easy to decipher, but it never works that way with friends. You second guess your instincts before you even know they’re there. And she couldn’t exactly interrogate her. The poor, sunny girl would probably crumble, and she’d probably lose another friend. So she had to play it easy. Slow, even. The long game. The issue was, Lucy didn’t have any ploys like that. She was direct. It was her _thing_ , and this was very not. But she couldn’t exactly ask anyone’s advice about this.

_‘Hey James, that girl who has a crush on you? She’s hiding something. And I want to know what it is. Don’t ask why, I just need to know. Can you help me figure out how to manipulate her into telling me?’_

_‘Yeah, sure thing. But first, can you put your arm in this sleeve? No, no, it’s not a straight jacket. It’s just a little chilly.’_

Wasn’t gonna happen. At least, not in person… Lucy typed James’ password into his computer (superbros69) and entered her question into google. She started with “How to get people to tell you their secrets” but that felt a little skeevy. She typed in “How to get closer to someone” but mostly came up with romantic results. She thought a minute, idly checking the time. James wouldn’t be back for a while. She typed in her final phrasing, “How to get someone to open up to you.” That allowed for results closer to what she was looking for.

The first suggestion on the first link was to ‘just ask them’. Lucy laughed at that, muttering, “Yes, I’ve cracked the code. Thank you.”

Another option was... touch. When in conversation, it suggested the reader casually touch the other person, to speed up their seeming familiarity. Lucy’s heart raced. She chalked it up to it seeming like such an invasion of privacy... She crossed it off her mental checklist, making another note to skim past suggestions that seemed romantic.

Most of what the article listed she already knew, such as being quiet at the right times, thus making the person want to say something to fill the silence. When she reached the bottom of the list, she sighed and wandered back up to the romance-focused suggestions, figuring she might find something usable within the mush.

According to this _very_ reliable source (heavy on the sarcasm), women were more likely to open up emotionally after seeing a romance film or a ‘chick flick’. She supposed that it made sense. Sometimes emotions behaved like inertia, once they began, they wanted continue on. Like Lucy’s feelings for Kara, despite her own stubborn resolve.

 _Not that they’re_ **_feelings_** _. Just_ **_like_** _. Well, like is a feeling, isn’t it?_

She shook her head, focusing. Maybe that would work. Take her to a soppy movie. Kara seemed like the type to get too attached to characters. Maybe they could even use those characters to talk about themselves.

_‘So, do you relate to Character X so much because of her dark past, or…?”_

This would work. Now, if she could just find a good movie that’s out. Well, they could watch a movie at Kara’s apartment, but then other people could be there. If she made it a whole event, it would be less likely that James or Winn or Kara’s sister could interrupt last minute.

Following a quick google search, Lucy saw that the only movie out was Me Before You, which she’d heard had terrible messages and was overall Ableist.

_Now what?_

She scanned the webpage, hoping to spot a chick flick or romance movie she’d missed, when she noticed that they were showing older movies as well. There were a couple older romance films, but none with the emotional weight she wanted. Then Lucy saw _The Titanic,_ and if anyone had been around to witness it, they’d have described her following smile as nearly grinch-scheming-to-steal-christmas-presents level.

_Perfect._

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from Cat’s office, wiping Lucy’s glee away in an instant as she felt her military mask fill in her features. Cat was supposed to be long gone, someone may have broken in, looking for trade secrets.

“Damn Daily Planet psychos,” she hissed to no one, sneaking toward the Queen of all Media’s throne. It was like Lois’ crazy spilled over to the other employees. Lois wouldn’t go as far as stealing anything, but her blase attitude toward consequences tended to infect people of varying moral stances, Lucy bitterly remembered.

She grabbed a heavy, water bottle sized statue from that redhead man’s desk and inched closer. She could hear something moving on Cat’s balcony, and, not wanting the person to escape out the window (logic that she’d find fault with later on), she ran toward the sound, statue raised high.

“Oh, Rao, Cat’s gonna murder me.”

What Lucy saw, leaning against the railing and frowning down at a crater in the cement of the balcony, was none other than the infamous Supergirl. Lucy lowered her make-shift weapon and quickly lowered it to the ground to temporarily avoid embarrassment, as Supergirl hadn’t seen her yet.

“I think she prefers Miss Grant,” Lucy spoke smugly.

Kara head moved to look at her too quickly for Lucy’s eyes to register. What she did register was the flash of red in Kara’s eyes that signalled that she was half a second away from burning Lucy to a crisp. She felt that primal fear prey experiences before it’s about to be devoured and unable to do anything about it. Lucy froze, and she would sourly note later that it wouldn’t have mattered how quickly she reacted. Supergirl could destroy her instantly.

The blondes’ eyes were back to blinding blue in less than a second, and then were covered within a wince.

“I’m sorry, you startled me,” Supergirl said, voice low and gravelly, averting her eyes. Lucy struggled to remember how her vocal cords worked for a moment, staring at her. Assessing. Always assessing. Supergirl had definitely just been in a battle. Her suit was torn up, face smudged with dirt and her too-perfect hair was tossed (in an annoyingly supermodel-y kind of way). Lucy determinedly ignored the phrase ‘ _sex hair_ ’ as it rang in her mind. She stood stiffly, still pressed against the railing, waiting for a response. Lucy remembered her voice and tried for annoyance.

“What are you doing here, Supergirl. Don’t you have cats in trees calling for you?” Lucy bit, trying to convince her rapidly beating heart that she was fine. Supergirl wasn’t a threat. At least, not an immediate one. The heroine almost glared, but it withered, as she seemed to remember how overly effective her last look was.

“I’m looking for James.”

Aaaand, Lucy found that annoyance she was trying for.

“He’s not in, sorry. Wrong number. Maybe try someone actually qualified for the danger you entail?” She said, stepping back and starting to close the door, only to knock over the golden statue that was resting against it. Supergirl’s eyebrow quirked at it as Lucy begrudgingly picked it up.

Supergirl’s mouth lifted annoyingly into a smirk as she said, “It seems I was right to be scared, you being armed so heavily, and all.” Lucy lifted her head up, looking her in the eye, and began silently closing the door.

“Wait!”

Lucy paused reflexively, to her own chagrin.

“I really do need James,” she spoke as her eyes squinted very slightly. She was obviously using her alien eyes to find the man. Supergirl bit her bottom lip and muttered, “I’m in a bit of a predicament…”

Lucy rolled her eyes and walked back toward her set up, shooting back, “He’ll be here… eventually.” She heard an awkward shuffle as Supergirl made her way into the building, trying to keep in pace behind her sudden burst.

They made it to Cat’s office doors before Maiden of Might spoke, anxiously, “How long? It’s somewhat time sensitive.” Lucy stopped suddenly, forcing the other girl to bump into her. Surprisingly, Lucy didn’t fly across the room. In fact, Supergirl seemed more affected than she, clenching her jaw and taking several clumsy steps backward. Lucy ignored the observation for now.

“What could you possibly need my civilian boyfriend for? Do you need a photo asap for your perfectly disheveled hair?” Lucy said, hands on her hips. Supergirl crossed her arms, then, invoking whatever strange authority she always seemed to have a fingers’ length away. Lucy suddenly felt her own height. Then, Supergirl’s steel faded in a flat second as her eyebrows furrowed together.

“Perfectly disheveled hair?”

In the back of Lucy’s mind, behind layers of resentment toward the girl, lied mortification.

“ _No._ Well, yes. I was being ironic,” she shot out, dangerously close to rambling. If Kara could see her now…

“Oh, good. I was afraid you were attracted to me.”

“What?” Lucy squeaked, a fraction too loud. The blonde seemed to stifle a grin before continuing.

“Come on, _Major_ , you’ve so obviously been coming on to me. The way you’re always _so_ sweet to me all the time... In front of your _father_ no less,”

It finally, finally, hit Lucy that she was teasing her. The damn superheroine was _teasing_ her.

“I’m not blind. Actually, I have great eyes, if you haven’t noticed. So I see it.” Supergirl spoke, nodding to herself in a congratulatory manner.

Lucy scoffed dramatically, “Yeah, sure, I’m… _attracted_ to you like… mold is to bread!”

 _Oh_ **_no._ **

Supergirl gave her the biggest shit-eating grin she’d ever seen. Lucy was about ready for this to be over already.

“Oh, really? I see. So, you’re the mold in this situation, I gather?” she said, all teeth.

Lucy wanted to wipe that smug ass smile off her face.

_I should just kiss it off her. That’d show her._

But then Lucy started to picture it, which wasn’t good because her head was getting fuzzy and she needed to say something witty soon. Clever comebacks were Lois’ thing. Lucy was direct. So, she’d be direct.

“What are you really doing here?”

Supergirl’s smile faded, and Lucy felt equal parts triumphant and reluctant. But it served in reminding Lucy that for all the girl’s bubbly charm, something not-so-bubbly lurked.

_Everyone has secrets in this city._

Before Supergirl could respond, however, both of the women saw something dark move past the window outside, and the blonde sprung into action. Before Lucy could register Supergirl’s arms around her waist, they were flying across the room, over the desk and then under it. Supergirl had Lucy pinned to the ground under her, finger pressed against Lucy’s lips. Her eyes darted wildly around, seeing things Lucy couldn’t. Not that Lucy would have. She was too busy staring at Supergirl’s intense features, two inches away from her. She wondered if this look was Supergirl’s mask, summoned the way Lucy did for her military face.

After a moment, Supergirl’s features softened, and the hand Lucy forgot was wrapped tightly around her waist slacked. She lowered her finger from Lucy’s lips. Her eyes widened, then, comically, as she honed back in on Lucy.

“Uh, I’m sorry. It-...It was just a bird.”

It was Lucy’s turn to be smug, but her Major Brain was in action now, and she couldn’t help but notice that something serious was happening.

“What’s going on, Supergirl?” she commanded with her tone of authority. Supergirl was mostly unaffected by it, instead opting to scan Lucy’s eyes a moment before burrowing into them with her own.

_Deciding if she can trust me?_

Lucy abruptly realized how close they were. Supergirl was still only inches away, and they were both squeezed into the confines of Cat Grant’s legroom. Supergirl’s hand was still on her waist, and Lucy’s legs were between Supergirl’s as she knelt. She was nearly being straddled. Supergirl, for her part, was none the wiser, still evaluating if Lucy could be trusted with whatever is going on. The girl shifted slightly, then, and glanced down at herself.

“Oh no.”

Lucy followed her eyes down to Cat’s white rug. Well, not anymore. There was a sizable red bloodstain on it now. Lucy did a quick self-bodily assessment, ready to call Supergirl out for being a shitty hero, but found no injuries on her own person. Then, Supergirl not-so-subtly removed her hand from Lucy’s waist and pressed it to her own.

_Supergirl’s blood is on the carpet._

Lucy was surprised to see it looked the same as human blood, which she’d seen her share of. She hadn’t thought much about what it would look like, obviously, but if she had, she might have pictured, like, glitter. Or perhaps gold, coloring her skin as if fell and painting her like a false idol.

As for the stain, Lucy wasn’t sure if Cat would be pissed because it was messy, or delighted because it was a hell of a story. She could hear it now,

 _“Has Super_ man _ever bled on_ **_your_ ** _carpet, Lois? No? Looks like you’re not as on the cutting edge as you claim to be.”_

Supergirl inelegantly stood, then, and Lucy suddenly felt cold.

“Got into a bit of a brawl tonight…”

Lucy rose up next to her, and let herself really see Supergirl. Sometimes it was hard to notice anything but the bright colors and celebrity smile, so she’d only caught her slight stumbling before. Now, she could tell that the blonde was significantly paler than she usually was (even though she physically couldn’t tan), her breath was uneven, and her usual superhero stance was greatly hindered by the way she swayed slightly on her feet.

“You obviously need medical attention. What the hell are you doing here? Why didn’t you fly to the DEO?”

Supergirl glanced down at her hand, already covered in blood. It was trickling down her side to her leg, now, and filling in the little “S” symbols indented across her suit.

“They were following me, and I lost them, but heading all the way to the DEO would’ve left me too exposed. Even if I got away, they’d probably have figured out where it was located.”

“Then call them. Bring the DEO to you.”

Supergirl pursed her lips and shook her head.

“No. I know the species that are attacking me. They’d notice the tactical movements in a second, and agents would die. I just have to wait it out.”

Lucy sighed at the useless, bleeding alien.

“Okay, well, you can’t just stand here, ruining the rug. I’ll show you to James’ office.” Lucy said, turning and walking away from Supergirl for the second time that night.

It occurred to Lucy that Supergirl probably already knew where it was, considering she’d ended up on the right floor for it. She’d even come in through the only window left unlocked every night. Cat would sometimes stay extremely late, past the time security would lock everything up, so she’d arranged to keep it unlocked. Not to mention, Lucy suspected, she’d hope for a visit from a certain flying hero. Of course, any number of Supergirl’s powers could have clued her into this information.

Lucy got all the way to Kara’s desk before noticing that she wasn’t being followed. When she turned around, Supergirl just kind of stared at her awkwardly, sweat beginning to form on her face, possibly for the first time in years.

_Oh, duh._

“Do you… need help?”

The heroine rolled her eyes self-deprecatingly.

“Well, it’s gotten kinda…” she murmured, voice shaking more than Lucy had noticed before. Supergirl looked down and moved her red-painted hand away a little from the wound, which Lucy saw was _bad,_ and practically whispered, “...worse.”

Supergirl cleared her throat, and Lucy cleared her head. This, she could do. This was protocol. This was helping a soldier in the field, even if that soldier was dressed like a cheerleader. Even if that soldier was also a star.

Before Lucy could move, Supergirl lowly lifted her hand toward Cat’s desk, stepping over to it slowly. She looked ready to keel over. Lucy was there before the girl could lean on the desk, or miss and fall over- whichever came first. She threw Supergirl’s arm over her shoulder and wrapped her arm around the portion of her waist that wasn’t bleeding. Supergirl tensed a bit at Lucy’s actions, but was forced to relax as she lead her toward James’ office. Hopefully he’d have a first aid kit in there. After some time as Superman’s best bro, Lucy recalled an increase in his preparedness for any situation.

“Thank you,” Supergirl said, quietly, once they were out of Cat’s office. She wasn’t leaning very heavily on Lucy, and it was causing the both of them to sway back and forth more than necessary.

“You can lean on me more, you know. I’ve carried grown men under fire.”

“I know. I mean- I figured. But I doubt those grown men would break your shoulder if they underestimated their strength for a second and applied too much pressure to their lean,” Supergirl said quietly, reluctantly.

Lucy tried her hardest not to tense up at that, but given the way the heroine glanced down at her and lessened her weight even further, it was for naught. Lucy cursed herself for simultaneously making the immediate situation worse and letting Supergirl know she feared her.

“Well, just... don’t do that, and we’ll be good.”

Supergirl laughed briefly, before flinching, having aggravated her wound.

“Yeah, no problem.”

They reached James’ office then, where Lucy helped lower Supergirl onto the couch (not the white one). While the hero leaned back and closed her eyes, Lucy searched James’ desk for some sort of first aid kit.

“So what happened, exactly? Aren’t you supposed to be indestructible?”

“Yes, well, they didn’t get the memo,” she said, eyes still closed, and hand pressing down on her wound. Which reminded Lucy- towels.

As she searched, Supergirl continued, “I suppose you’ll find out tomorrow from your father anyway. The Kryptonians sent a group of Fort Rozz prisoners of varying species to attack a government facility. They found… a _lot_ of Kryptonite.”

Lucy froze. That wasn’t good. That was the opposite of good. The General, and the reason why she knew what Kryptonite was, was going to be furious that he’d lost an advantage. Lucy made eye contact with Supergirl, whose eyes had opened sometime during the discussion. They both knew what it meant- Supergirl was in danger. Hell, she was lucky to be alive.

Lucy brought her findings over to the girl. James had some towels in his gym bag (which Lucy calculated he wouldn’t use until Friday, so they should be clean), and a first aid kit was found in his bottom desk drawer underneath a few binders. Lucy sat next to her and lifted the heroine’s arm out of the way, so that it was resting over the couch’s back. She wordlessly pulled Supergirl’s hand from her wound and soaked up her blood with the towels. When she could finally actually see the wound itself, she noticed something glowing green within.

“So this is Kryptonite’s doing?” She said, finally looking up at Supergirl’s face. She nodded, teeth clenched. Lucy realized the position she was twisted into was probably making it worse, so she sped up. She would need remove the Kryptonite. In the field, extracting whatever was impaled into a soldier was usually not at all recommended. However, Lucy figured that when the Kryptonite was literally poisonous as long as it was present, the best way to not kill National City’s favorite superstar was to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

She placed a towel in Supergirl’s hand and pressed them both to her wound. Then, she opened up the med-kit, which was fully stocked. She took the scissors first. You can’t work a wound you can’t see (a philosophy she also applied to psychology), so she closed the scissors around Supergirl’s suit and...nothing.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot.”

“You forgot?”

Supergirl smirked, and said “The suit is meant to withstand bullets, as long as what it’s pressed to is practically steel. You won’t be able to cut it.”

“Oh. Can you like… rip it? I have to be able to see.”

Supergirl bit her bottom lip, and tilted her head noncommittally.

“I can try.”

Lucy moved back as Supergirl took hold of her suit. She frowned before attempting it, possibly out of sympathy for damaged uniform. Then, she pulled.

Nothing.

Supergirl sighed, “Just a little too late. The longer I’m exposed, the less my powers work.”

Lucy rubbed her forehead, frustrated. Supergirl slumped further into the couch and closed her eyes, unconcerned. Her towel was soaked with blood and needed to be changed. Lucy grabbed another one from James’ bag and switched it. She wiped the blood off her hand and pressed it to Supergirl’s forehead, whose only acknowledgement of the action was a slight eyebrow raise. She was cool. Lucy let her hand fall down to the girl’s neck, where she felt for a pulse. Quick. Very quick. Lucy would have to call the DEO, aliens be damned, if she didn’t get that Kryptonite out soon.

“Well, you’ll have to take the top part of your suit off.”

Supergirl’s eyes shot open. Then her eyebrow raised.

“It’s a one piece.”

Lucy swallowed.

_Of course it’s a one piece._

“Yes, well… then the whole suit, I guess.”

Supergirl sighed, and Lucy expected that it was more at the prospect of having to move than the idea of being nearly naked. Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Okay, where’s the zipper?”

Supergirl smiled goofily as she said, “Under the cape.”

Lucy shook her head and made her way around the girl, lifting up her cape to look for the zipper. The cape’s shade made it difficult to see, so she moved her fingers lightly around her back to locate it.

“To the right.” Supergirl said, lowly, quietly.

Lucy found it and tugged. Now Supergirl just needed to stand up and take it off. She moved back around and offered her hand to Supergirl, who just stared.

“You have to stand to take it off.”

“Right. Standing. The up-thing... Perfect.”

Lucy grabbed her hand and pulled, and suddenly Supergirl was shakily standing.

“Oh. I’m up now.”

_Someone’s getting loopy._

“Come on.”

Lucy pulled Supergirl’s suit down for her, maneuvering clumsily when she reached Supergirl’s hand, towel still tightly pressed to her side. Once she got over it and tugged the suit down to her red boots, Lucy straightened and helped the heroine step out of it. Of course, when Lucy’s eyes wandered back to Supergirl’s injury, she couldn’t help but notice that she was, well, for lack of a better word- hot.

_Fit! Fit is a better word... Damn it._

Lucy wasn’t exactly surprised. Powers or no powers, fighting aliens to the almost-death 5 times a week was probably a pretty decent workout. But worse than Lucy’s sudden and reluctant realization that she found Supergirl to be -technically- attractive, was her realization that she was still staring. Her face suddenly grew hot.

When she found Supergirl’s eyes, they were squinting and accompanied with a grin.

“Are you blushing, Major Lane?” Supergirl slurred, lazily pointing a bloody finger at her cheeks.

Lucy pushed her hand down by the wrist and glowered.

“You’re the one standing undressed in the middle of Catco. If anyone is blushing, it should be you.”

Supergirl’s eyes grew wide as she looked at herself and draped her free arm across her middle.

“Oh.”

If Lucy didn’t know any better, she would say the celebrity soldier standing in front of her _had_ actually begin to blush. She didn’t have much time to ponder the color of Supergirl’s cheeks, however, as she’d begun to keel over.

“Oh, hey, hey,”

Lucy managed to leverage her into lying on the couch instead of falling into a heap on the floor, but she was just about passed out. Lucy sat on the edge of the couch, next to Supergirl’s bare legs and took her pulse. It faint and quick and not a good sign, so she decided there was no time like the present to get this damn green Jolly Rancher-looking thing out of her. She grabbed the pliers and wiped away as much of Supergirl’s blood as possible before beginning to extract it.

Supergirl’s eyes flew open the moment Lucy touched the Kryptonite, and she subsequently broke a piece of the couch, the wooden portion under the cushions, clean off.

 _Great._ **_Now_ ** _her powers work._

“Lucy?” Supergirl whispered, squinting at her, “What are you doing to me?”

She was shivering slightly now, and Lucy forced herself to push down her sympathy.

“Kryptonite, Supergirl. I’m trying to save your life.”

Lucy was beginning to think, well, had been thinking the whole time, that they should have just called the damn DEO. Taken the risk. Or at least taken her to a normal hospital. _Something._ Now a delirious Supergirl’s life was in Lucy’s hands. But all it would take is getting the Kryptonite out to return her to near-normal. Lucy just hoped that whatever was in there was only one piece.

“Right. Supergirl. I’m Supergirl.” She said, smiling and half lidded.

Lucy gave a short laugh and said, “Yes, well _Supergirl_ , brace yourself. This is gonna hurt.”

Her smile faded to a frown as she straightened her arms at her side and turned her hands into fists. Once she had moved, and without warning, Lucy began slowly pulling the Kryptonite out. It looked like it was going to be long and thin. The hero straightened out and tensed her muscles as Lucy went, squeezing her fists so they shook. Lucy was impressed that the only sound she made was a kind of whispered yell.

_Not bad for a star._

Once she removed it, she looked at the wound to see if any fragments remained. After seeing that there didn’t appear to be, she was confused as to why it wasn’t healing.

“You have to move it away, or put it in lead.”

Supergirl’s eyes were closed and she looked paler than ever, so Lucy was keen to comply, but the wound was still bleeding. She took Supergirl’s hands, which were slack at her side, to put the towel in and noticed small crescent shaped cuts on her palm. She figured then that she should have given her something to hold, to break if need be.

_Maybe that stupid statue._

Lucy pressed Supergirl’s towel-armed hands to her wound and briefly looked for something lead. Seeing nothing, she left her and quickly moved the Kryptonite to the other end of the office. When she returned, Supergirl’s eyes were fully open and some color had already returned.

“Thanks”

“Yeah, sure.”

_Now what._

“James!” Kara said, standing very quickly for someone who looked close to death minutes before. Lucy turned to see her boyfriend standing there with entirely too much thai food, staring slack-jawed at the-

_Oh god_

-underwear-clad superhero standing in the middle of his office.

The superhero said, most likely still slightly loopy, “This isn’t what it looks like!”

Lucy furrowed her brow at her, then followed with a glare.

“Of course it’s not what it looks like! What are you talking about?”

Supergirl just sat back down, tiredness reclaiming her.

James looked at Lucy, then, “Is anyone gonna explain?”

“Your _super_ smart best friend here got herself stabbed by Kryptonite.”

“I didn’t _get_ myself stabbed. It’s not like I was trying out some new cooking...stuff, and walked into my kitchen knife!”

Lucy turned fully to her now, arms crossed. Unfortunately, she’d had a bone to pick with Supergirl for a while, and she practically had an essay waiting to spill out at any moment. Of course, this wasn’t the moment. But once again, Lucy’s lips had a mind of their own.

“Please, we all know you’re new at this. You make it abundantly clear every time you screw up. I’m just saying that if you were an actual _soldier_ , with actual _training_ , you wouldn’t make so many mistakes. But you’re pretty, and bubbly, and a superstar so people think it’s okay to let you fly recklessly around and be a superhero. And then the actual soldiers end up having to save your ass. Clean up after you.”

“Guys, maybe we should-”

“Oh, oh, I see what this is now, Major. You don’t like me because, what, I was born with all this power?”

Lucy nodded, unashamed, as Supergirl continued, “Let’s say… kind of like how you were born a Lane? Sister of the award-winning Lois Lane, Daughter of the esteemed douchebag General Lane. People say it gave you a leg up.”

Lucy was definitely triggered now, and James made a move to hold her back, which she side-stepped. She was in Supergirl’s face now.

“I worked for everything I have.”

“And so did I! But we’re both privileged.”

“You’re not just privileged, Supergirl, you’re dangerous. If you make a mistake, people die. And not on the same level as a human. You said it yourself, if you apply too much pressure during a handshake, or a hug, or a high five, you could seriously hurt someone.”

Supergirl’s face twisted into a sneer.

“You sound just like your father.”

“Maybe. But he does what’s best for this country.”

Supergirl laughed then, with a cold glee.

“Really? That’s funny, genuinely funny. Why don’t you ask him who’s fault tonight was, then? The real reason I was stabbed. The real person you had to _clean up after_.”

Lucy paused. This was new information. Well, half-information.

“What happened?”

Supergirl stood there a moment, stoney faced, then replied, “Ask your father. I’m sure he’ll have a way to spin it that wipes both of your hands clean of my blood.”

She looked down at Lucy’s hands and Lucy followed. There it was, shockingly red and half-dried. When Lucy looked back up, Supergirl was putting her suit back on. She got a glimpse of the injury, mostly healed. James was a few feet away from them, averting his eyes from both the dressing woman and his angry girlfriend. It had dissipated, though, which always happened when she realized she didn’t have all the information, the facts, the _truth_. She would talk to her father in the morning.

“Do you need a ride, Supergirl?” James asked.

Supergirl had finished dressing, and was walking toward the balcony.

_Does James know where Supergirl lives?_

“No, thank you, James. I’ll be fine.”

Lucy piped up then, “What about the ones looking for you?”

Supergirl gave a slight forced smile and replied, “I don’t see anyone around... I can handle myself.”

And with that, she flew into the night. James turned to her and gave her that iconic You Can Be a Better Person Than That™ condescending ass look he always gives when she goes overboard.

_Whatever, I’ll figure this out later._

She spoke up before he follow his disapproving gaze with a speech, “Can you get the plates from the break room?”

He gave her a small smile and kissed her head.

“Sure thing.”

Lucy wanted to open the food up, but then remembered her hands. She headed to the bathroom. They’d have to clean the whole place of the blood before the night was through. She checked the time.

_Crap._

She was supposed to call Kara before it got too late and ask her to see a movie. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number. Kara’s ID picture was a sun with a smiley face.

“Hello?”

She sounded hoarse. Lucy’s heart sped up.

“Hey, it’s Lucy. Are you okay?”

Kara laughed a little and Lucy let out a breath.

_Someone’s a bit protective..._

_Shut up._

“Yeah, yeah. Just a rough day.”

“Yeah, your voice sounds a little rough. And- is that wind?”

“Uh! Yeah! Um, you know, I’m... driving. Like I do. Love to drive.”

“But you don’t have a car?”

“Uh, haha, yeah. I know that, and clearly, y- you know that. No car. But! Alex does! She has a car. I borrowed said car. To- you know. Drive around. Like one does. To, uh, cl- clear my head.”

Lucy smiled and leaned against the wall. This goof was exactly what she needed.

“Okay so we’ve established that you are in a car.”

Kara laughed at that, confirming, “Yes. I am in a car.”

“Well, when you’re not in a car, if you ever aren’t, would you like to see a movie? This weekend?”

“A movie! Of course, yeah, I love movies.”

She paused a second, and added a little more quietly, “Is James coming?”

“No, no. Just you and I. The movie I wanted to see isn’t really his thing.”

Kara sighed, and Lucy couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or relief.

_Relief? Why would it be relief? She likes James. Too much, in fact._

_Well, I guess she wouldn’t want to be a third wheel._

“Oh, what movie?”

“Well, this theater is showing older movies, and I’ve always wanted to see The Titanic in theaters.”

“The Titanic?”

Lucy held her breath. If she wasn’t down, she’d have to come up with a whole new plan.

She continued, “Is that the one with the giant boat?”

Lucy laughed and said, “Yep. Hence the name.”

Kara’s tone sounded _very_ concerned when she followed with, “There aren’t any sharks in that movie, are there?”

“Wait. You actually haven’t seen The Titanic? I thought you were kidding.”

Kara laughed nervously then and Lucy berated herself for making her uncomfortable.

“No, I haven’t. Alex always said it sucked. Is it good?”

“ _Very._ Your sister’s nuts.”

“Okay, well. It’s a date!”

Lucy’s heart jumped into her throat, as Kara continued, oblivious, “Alright, well, I should go. I’m pretty beat.”

Lucy’s voice sounded funny even to herself as she replied, “Okay, sleep well Kara.”

“You too. Eventually.” She laughed a bit and added, “Bye bye!”

“Bye, Kara.”

“...Bye!”

And she hung up. Lucy put her phone into her pocket and finally made it into the bathroom. James was probably wondering where she got off to. Right, now, however, she had cosmic blood to wash off her hands.

_Get take out, save a superhero’s life, schedule to see a movie with a pal… Just a normal day._

_My life is so weird._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> The next chapter will be named Proverbs. It looks like I'll be naming the chapters books of the bible. Religion won't actually be involved, story-wise, it's more for literary significance.
> 
> Alex didn't actually hate The Titanic, so bonus points to you if you can figure out why she says she does (might give you a clue as to how well this not-a-date goes...)
> 
> If anyone has questions about my characterizations, like why I had a certain character act a certain way, ask away! I have some reasonings that may not be apparent in the actual text.
> 
> p.s. If you couldn't tell, writing "Supergirl" as someone's name all the time is actually pretty difficult. When I could switch back to saying "Kara", it was a huge relief.


	3. Proverbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's dad is a difficult, Kara is confusing, and Operation Solar Storm hits some hiccups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the wonderful comments, and for your patience. 
> 
> This chapter took ages to complete. I've been keeping a normal sleeping schedule, and it seems sitting down and writing a chapter in one go doesn't work as well when you can't write until the sun rises. Looks like I'll be writing pieces of it over time to compensate for not being able to procrastinate for a week and then bang it out. 
> 
> Should be more regular in the future. If it doesn't look like it's moving along quickly enough, I'll post half chapters (this was almost "Proverbs A").

Lucy Lane wasn’t nervous. High-strung, maybe. Perhaps even a little anxious. But not…  _ nervous _ .

 

It’s just that her ‘date’ ( _ Damn Kara for phrasing it like that _ ) was in twelve hours and she was starting to feel nerv- … _ anxious _ \- about the whole stupid thing. Lucy was confident in her talent to sniff out the truth in others, so it wasn’t doubts in her own abilities that caused her heart to stutter off-beat every time she thought about the... date.

 

_ No, it’s a… meeting. Eh, that’s a bit weird. Friend meeting? What do they call… a hang out!  _

 

She also didn’t exactly think Kara would figure out her devious plans. Kara was pretty trusting...  _ embarrassingly _ trusting. One night, the gang was hanging out at Kara’s and playing some friends-quiz game that Kara was dominating, to Lucy’s chagrin. Kara finally lost her massive streak when she got the name for Winn’s childhood cat wrong (“Yeah, well, who names their cat Sally?”) and it prompted him to mention the typical ‘I was told that my cat went to live on a farm’ story that accompanies many an adolescent’s pet. When he got to the day he realized that ‘farm’ was code for ‘a bad case of the not-alives’, Kara’s eyes widened in quiet horror. When Kara spotted Lucy looking at her (not that she looked at her a lot or anything), she schooled her features back to normal, shooting her a small smile instead. Lucy would have assigned it to Kara indulging Winn and acting dramatically for the sake of a story if she hadn’t caught the way her sister was watching Kara, alarmed. Later that night, when she used the bathroom, she overheard the two sisters talking to each other in the bedroom through the walls. 

 

_ ‘Well, Kara, I mean, we were practically on a farm already. I was surprised you believed it at all.’  _

 

_ ‘I didn’t know anything about farms! It made sense to me to send the dog to a specifically dog-centered farm... And I didn’t think you guys would lie.’  _

 

_ Alex sighed. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t tell you earlier. I just forgot about it.’  _

 

_ ‘That could have been weird, Alex.’ _

 

_ ‘I know.’ _

 

_ They were quiet a minute. _

 

_ ‘Was it…’ Kara’s voice was barely audible. _

 

_ ‘What?’ _

 

_ ‘I played with that dog a lot, Alex. And- And I was careful, but-’ _

 

_ ‘No, Kara, You didn’t do anything, okay? It wasn’t you. She got sick. And you were so attached to her, and still so raw about everything, so... mom told me what to tell you.’ _

 

_ ‘Yeah, okay. Okay.’ _

 

Lucy had stopped listening after that, realizing that she was actually actively eavesdropping. Not to mention that none of it had made any sense. It was just one of the many events that added up to the situation Lucy was in now. Kara would have hints of darkness here, cryptic conversations there, but then she’d walk out, all grins and crinkling eyes. That kind of thing wasn’t unheard of, especially in Lucy’s profession(s). However, for some reason, this trait was different when it appeared in Kara Danvers. Like there was something  _ else _ involved in the whole equation.

 

But no, her own secrets or not, Kara was unlikely to spot Lucy’s. 

 

So what was this nagging... anxiety for?

 

As Lucy’s driver navigated his way into the DEO’s entrance, Lucy cleared her head. The last thing she wanted was to be caught thinking about Operation Solar Storm when she was supposed to be thinking about actual operations. And then there was the matter of Supergirl. She’d occupied 50% of her thoughts last night, the other half reserved for her “Mission” (which left zero percent for James, who luckily appeared only mildly concerned at her utter absent-ness). 

 

Annoyingly, she felt the fragments of guilt in her stomach about her argument with Supergirl, which probably meant she’d handled something wrong at some point. Her anger usually took precedence over things like that, but that fizzled out when she found herself out of the loop. Yes, the first thing she would do was pull her father away for a minute to check in about the Kryptonite situation. 

 

Of course, when Lucy made her way into the control room, she scratched that plan off the list. Tensions were… high. To say the least. Personnel were either standing stock still and staring at the action occurring in the center, or acting busily and averting their eyes. There wasn’t a relaxed bone in the place.

 

“And who is authorizing you to remain here? After what you did?” 

 

“The President, as I have told you. She also authorized what I  _ did _ .”

 

“Because you pushed her to.”

 

Henshaw was glaring with impressive intensity at Lucy’s father as they stood by the DEO’s round table, illuminated by it’s light. Lucy was somewhat shocked to see Henshaw this aggressive. Before, in his dealings with Lucy’s father, Henshaw was co-operative, if visibly restraining his frustrations. As for the General, as always, he gave nothing away but his special brand of disdain. Lucy was only glad to not be one the receiving end of it, for once. She decided to momentarily steer clear.

 

“Nevertheless-”

 

“This,” Henshaw gestured to the footage on the screen of a currently empty storage facility paired with last night’s footage of Supergirl taking an impressive beating, “is your fault.”

 

“Director Henshaw, I suggest you stop philosophizing over what is who’s fault and get back to work. I am not abandoning this post, regardless of your  _ feelings _ toward me.”

 

She could have sworn she saw Henshaw’s eyes flash red.

 

_ Supergirl has made me paranoid. _

 

As for the hero, Lucy was surprised to see her sitting in one of the techie’s chairs. She usually managed to at least stand next to the Director or Agent Danvers and stoically cross her arms. Instead, she stoically crossed her arms while hunched in a chair. 

 

“They’ve been at it for a while.”

 

Lucy freezed, surprised, as Agent Danvers came up behind her.

 

“Hence the  _ bored, _  yet angry Supergirl,” she said, settling next to her, arms resting on her hips and facing the intense argument. Still, the way she was scrutinizing Lucy put her on the defensive. 

 

“Yeah, punching things seems to be more her speed.”

 

It wasn’t exactly an insult, but it was close. The Agent shot her a look that let her know exactly where she stood on that front. Alex hadn’t really warmed up to Lucy, which annoyed her because she wanted Kara’s sister to like her, but didn’t surprise her because of her status at the DEO. She  _ had _ been surprised to see the Agent in Kara’s apartment one day, sitting on the couch and holding a slice of pizza an inch from her mouth. Kara laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world (her awkward laugh) and Alex calmly suggested that those close to powerful people tended to travel in packs. It sort of made sense- like her sister becoming buddy-buddy with Superman, then Lucy traveling to another city and yet ending up working with -well, next to- Supergirl. The thought made her uncomfortable now, reminding her of Supergirl’s mention of her supposed privilege. 

 

Lucy noticed that Alex’s eyes had drifted to Supergirl now, studying her discreetly. 

 

“I had thought, maybe...” Lucy trailed off.

 

“She was still injured?” 

 

Lucy shrugged. 

 

If Supergirl was using her powers to eavesdrop, she wasn’t showing any indication. She seemed to be more interested in the Director’s shoes.

 

“She should be fine now. We…  _ persuaded _ her to spend a few hours in the sunbed last night”

 

As the DEO’s primary Bioengineer, Agent Danvers was always fussing over Supergirl and making sure she got the medical, physiological and chemical equivalent of her Cheerios every morning. Lucy figured she was the resident Alien Whisperer™ until she saw her punch one in the face when he asked for a bandage for his bleeding arm. So it seemed her loyalty lied with Supergirl.

 

“So I take it you’ve been debriefed?” Lucy asked, already knowing the answer.

 

“I have. Thank you for your... _assistance_ in that matter.” It sounded like getting that sentence out was physically painful. 

 

_ So she’s  _ really  _ been debriefed. _

 

“Just... doing my part.”

 

Alex nodded once. Lucy could see the conversational window closing so she quickly pushed her agenda through, “Any idea when I’ll get the same treatment?”

 

“You mean getting stabbed?” Alex said with a flatness that let Lucy know she knew exactly what she meant.

 

“The  _ debriefing _ .”

 

She shot her with the same sentiment Supergirl had shared the night before, “I’m sure your father has plenty to say about that. You should ask him.” 

 

With that, Agent Danvers made her way to stand beside Director Henshaw, throwing Supergirl a look. The hero sighed and rose to stand next to her, finally raising her eyes to settle into a standard glare at the General.

 

_ Looks like now’s a good a time as any to enter the ring. _

 

Lucy walked up to the agitated circle with all the enthusiasm of a rabbit moseying up to a snake. She’s wrestled snakes before. A pissed off Director, scientist (with an affinity of guns...lots of guns, but still), and young woman dressed in a bright primary-colored costume shouldn’t be a problem. It was her father, the only snake she’d ever let close to her neck, who could really hurt her.

 

She interrupted Henshaw’s latest list of objections that he couldn’t actually do anything about, in between breaths with, “Is anyone gonna update me on what the hell has been going on?”

 

Supergirl seemed to just notice her then, eyes darting to Lucy with something soft, only to see her eyes and blink it away into a hard nothing. Lucy found herself feeling a little colder as they tore their eyes away. 

 

Her father straightened his posture beside her. 

 

Henshaw was the one to  _ finally _ tell her, to the apparent annoyance of the two women.

 

“Your General took it upon himself to ‘relocate’ nearly 90% of our Kryptonite holdings without our knowledge or permission. He’s also been out collecting the mineral from outside sources to add to his shiny new stockpile.”

 

Lucy regarded the General in shock, who was entirely lacking in shame.

 

“I did what was necessary-”

 

“What was necessary?" The Director interrupted, "You were storing the equivalent of a species-specific nuclear bomb.”

 

Lucy felt like her face was numb. Meanwhile, Minus the glare, Supergirl looked like a kid sitting in between her parents while they fought about her.

 

“Director Henshaw, I thought someone of your record would understand what it means to be five steps ahead. To be able to tell your enemies that you have as much power as they do.”

 

He was referring to Hank Henshaw’s illustrious record of openly detesting aliens with a severity that rivaled her father’s, before his abrupt shift in thinking over the past year. Lucy would hypothesize at the sudden cause for that if she could hear rational thoughts over the angry beating of her heart.

 

_ She could have died.  _

 

She’d understood it before, most especially when she had been sitting over the hero’s rapidly paling form, but on rare occasions, seeing the whole picture could feel more real than the quick, in-the-moment decisions. There’s something about pumping blood and adrenaline that puts everything into hyperfocus, but when you step back, you can see what the actions really meant.

 

And what they could have meant. 

 

_ Option A: _

 

_ Step 1: My father steals Kryptonite from a Kryptonian-fighting task force. _

_ Step 2: Kryptonians steal this Kryptonite, and along with it our entire advantage. _

_ Step 3: Supergirl comes to save the day. _

_ Step 4: Supergirl loses the fight. _

_ Step 5: I save her life. _

_ Step 6: Bragging rights for 100 years. _

 

_ Option B: _

 

_ Step 1: My father steals Kryptonite from a Kryptonian-fighting task force. _

_ Step 2: Kryptonians steal this Kryptonite, and along with it our entire advantage. _

_ Step 3: Supergirl comes to save the day. _

_ Step 4: Supergirl defeats them all. _

_ Step 5: We throw a party? _

_ Step 6: We get hangovers. _

 

_ Option C:  _

 

_ Step 1: My father steals Kryptonite from a Kryptonian-fighting task force. _

_ Step 2: The Kryptonians  _ **_don’t_ ** _ steal this Kryptonite and along with it our entire advantage. _

_ Step 3: My father threatens to use it if they don’t co-operate. _

_ Step 4: They co-operate. _

_ Step 5: Party. _

_ Step 6: Hangovers. _

 

_ Option D: _

 

_ Step 1: My father steals Kryptonite from a Kryptonian-fighting task force. _

_ Step 2: The Kryptonians  _ **_don’t_ ** _ steal this Kryptonite and along with it our entire advantage. _

_ Step 3: My father threatens to use it if they don’t co-operate. _

_ Step 4: They don’t co-operate. _

_ Step 5: Supergirl dies. _

_ Step 6: _

 

_ Option E: _

 

_ Step 1: My father steals Kryptonite from a Kryptonian-fighting task force. _

_ Step 2: Kryptonians steal this Kryptonite and along with it our entire advantage. _

_ Step 3: Supergirl comes to save the day. _

_ Step 4: Supergirl loses the fight. _

_ Step 5: Supergirl dies. _

_ Step 6: _

 

She could dimly feel Supergirl’s eyes on her as she made her calculations, but what really drew her back out was the word ‘genocide’ ripped from Alex’s lips.

 

The General scoffed, “No one is talking about genocide, Ms. Danvers.”

 

“ _ Agent _ Danvers.” It was the first sentence (sentence fragment, really) that Supergirl had said the entire time Lucy was there. It was accompanied by a glower that reminded Lucy of a furious Greek God etched in stone. The looks Supergirl gave Lucy the night before, hell, the looks she gave monsters actively trying to kill her, were all like playful winks in comparison. 

 

The General coughed, like she’d managed to force choke him while she was at it, but then he continued on, “ _ Agent _ Danvers, there’s no reason to believe it will come to that.”

 

“Not anymore, of course, since  _ you lost it _ . But you were definitely planning to accomplish more than simple strong-arm diplomacy. Why else would you be manipulating it?”

 

Lucy piped up, “Manipulating?”

 

The General addressed Lucy for the first time now, turning to her.

 

“We were... testing the mineral and it’s possible attributes. It’s possible advantages.”

 

“You were experimenting with Kryptonite? To what end?”

 

Agent Vasquez swiveled in her chair then and addressed Henshaw, “Sorry sir, there are some alien sightings that could use your immediate attention.”

 

Henshaw nodded once to her, then turned to face the General.

 

“If something happens like this again, I won’t care who authorized it.” He let the threat hang in the air, to which the General simply replied with a smirk.

 

As everyone dispersed to do their jobs, the General pulled Lucy aside, into the hall. 

 

“I’ll need you to look over some documents regarding the whole mishap-”

 

“ _ Mishap _ ?” Lucy felt her heart beating in her ears again.

 

“Major Lane, I expect you to keep a clear and rational head, as always.” He said, always finding a way to deflect fault to her. She couldn’t keep up with placing the blame, the psychology and manipulation that her father could implement if he so sought. But she could find the truth. 

 

“What were you doing with the Kryptonite?” She said quietly, aware that some ears were more sensitive than others. Supergirl seemed to be focused on the ‘sighting’ a reptilian-like alien that could change its skin pigment with enough accuracy to become invisible.

 

“Can I trust you with this?” 

 

Lucy was insulted at the idea she’d so easily betray his confidence, but for some reason she held back from assuring him. Her stomach felt tight.

 

“What were you doing with the Kryptonite?”

 

He clenched his jaw.

 

“I think it’s best to keep you in the dark at this stage. For your own protection.”

 

Lucy wanted to throttle him, but she centered herself before continuing, trying to appeal to the decent man she knew was inside somewhere.

 

“Why would you do this, Dad? Everything was… working. We were all working well together. Even Superg-”

 

“Supergirl is a child,  _ Major _ .” So much for the dad card. He continued with fervor, “She is incapable of protecting us from these aliens. You know this. We’ve discussed this. And for that matter, God knows if she would even want to, in the end. She’s one of them. They are her  _ family _ .”

 

“Well, family isn’t everything, isn’t that right, ‘General’?”

 

He frowned at her, but she continued, “I don’t care if she’s an alien, or a cheerleader, or a celebrity. You could have gotten her killed.”

 

“Major, you know as well as I do that one soldier is nothing against thousands of lives.”

 

“Oh so now she’s a soldier? Half a minute ago she was a child!”

 

He stared at her a moment, and she noticed herself breathing heavily. When had she gotten so angry? When did it shift from being about his betrayal of the DEO to his endangerment of Supergirl? 

 

His stance shifted, purposefully making him taller.

 

_ Crap. _

 

“My methods are not up for discussion, Major Lane. My intentions are not up for discussion. My  _ opinions _ are certainly not up for discussion.”

 

_ Here it comes. _

 

“I think it’s best, as long as you’re still confused, for you to stick to soley field ops.”

 

_ Which means no access to upper-level plans, no room for advancement in rank, no insider knowledge. _

 

It was like the equal yet opposite of getting desk duty, which she might have preferred. She was excellent in the field, she even enjoyed it most of the time, but Lucy was all about information. Not in a ‘I need to memorize all of the Star Wars Extended Universe’ kind of way, but she liked to know the big picture. It’s what kept her motivated. Essentially, her clothing store manager just told her to move boxes back and forth instead of helping pick out the latest fashion designers to stock.

 

And the worst part was that he knew exactly what he was doing. He started walking away, and she found she had nothing to say. He walked a few paces down the hall, and then stopped. He remained facing the exit as he spoke.

 

“And Lucy, I’d watch your loyalty to that... girl. You will find your trust is misplaced.”

 

She wanted to yell after him ‘I actually don’t trust her!’, but she figured that would defeat her argument. So he just walked on to god knows where to do god knows what. She hated not knowing. It left angry knots in her stomach that would only tighten over time.

 

When she looked back to the center of the room, Supergirl was looking at her, sympathy furrowing in her brow. She’d been listening. Lucy wanted to be annoyed, but she knew she’d do the same for information pertaining to her. 

 

The heroine offered a small smile and Lucy felt the odd sensation that she’d stolen it from someone else. 

 

She responded with a curt nod.

 

* * *

 

Lucy spent the rest of the day working at her somewhat unofficial new full time post at the DEO. Annoyingly, there were no field ops to speak of, so she had very little to do under this new restriction. She just hoped her father cleared his head soon and returned her to her post. Luckily for Lucy, Supergirl was off doing… something, for most of the day. Presumably, she had a day job- an endeavor Lucy would consider for herself if things didn’t pick up in a timely manner.

 

When the work day came to a close, Lucy remembered her hang out with Kara was incoming, and shot her off a text.

 

_ ‘Hey Kara! Ready for tonight?’ _

 

Lucy had come to realize that the girl either texted back right away, or really really delayed. There was no inbetween. So her phone was still in her hand when Kara responded. Lucy smirked as the girl shot off several texts at once.

 

_ ‘Hella!!! :DDD’ _

_ ‘Which theater was it again?’ _

_ ‘Also, I realized you never actually told me if there were sharks in this movie…?’ _

_ ‘I will in fact leave the theater if there are...js.’ _

_ ‘And I’ll take your popcorn with me.’ _

 

Lucy figured that Kara texted like an eager eleven year old high on sugar because she just kept thinking of things to say, and yet they all came in so quickly Lucy would have barely had time to take a breath, let alone come up with more and more comments. She reasoned that her phone must have just received them all at once. It was always acting up.

 

_ ‘Hahaha, don’t worry, Kara. There is not a single shark in the movie. And it’s the Plymouth AMC. But would you rather I pick you up? I actually only live a few blocks away.’ _

 

She replied in more fragments.

 

_ ‘Uh’ _

_ ‘Yeah sure. You can pick me up.’ _

_ ‘I also just remembered I’ve never seen your new apartment.’ _

 

_ ‘Oh yeah, well, it’s nothing special. But I suppose I could just show you it afterward.’ _

 

_ ‘And she’s already planning to invite me back to her apartment after. Gosh, buy me popcorn first. ;)’ _

 

Lucy almost fell out of her chair. Henshaw glanced up from across the room and Lucy awkwardly tried to wave him off. He squinted, then smirked almost...knowingly, and returned to his discussion with Agent Danvers.

 

For reasons unbeknownst to Lucy, she found herself reading the text several more times before replying with a change of subject.

 

_ ‘Haha, so 7:30 okay with you?’ _

 

_ ‘Yep! I’ll see you then. :)’ _

 

_ ‘See you then. :)’ _

 

Lucy returned to the non-digital world with a smile on her face, only to have it promptly fall when she spotted the Director and Alex glancing at her with conspiratorial smiles of their own. They quickly returned to their discussion when she shot them a look (only a bit impaired by her own confusion), and Lucy gathered her things to leave for the day.

 

* * *

 

 

Lucy Lane knocked on Kara Danvers’ door at promptly 1930 hours military time (7:30). It would take approximately 20 minutes to get to the theater, leaving 10 more minutes to buy tickets and get refreshments. It was perfect amount of time to accomplish everything needed for the operation. If Kara would just open the door…

 

“Hey!”

 

She appeared in a whisk of wind, door flying open and startling Lucy. There was a flash of white teeth and blue eyes before Lucy blinked and Kara was gone again, having moved back into her apartment.

 

“Sorry, just can’t seem to find my stupid phone.” 

 

Lucy tentatively stepped into her apartment as Kara frantically looked around. Thing is, she was literally just looking. Kara just stood in the center, hands on her hips, mouth twisted in consideration and stared out as if the cell phone would soon magically appear. Lucy laughed and made her way over to the couch.

 

“It might help if you actually, you know, moved things around,” Lucy said, lifting couch cushions up.

 

“Uh… oh.” She said, just staring at Lucy as she moved. 

But when Lucy made her way to the arm chair, Kara appeared next to her, pushing the cushion down as Lucy pulled it up.

When Lucy looked up at Kara’s smiling face, closer than she’d ever been to it, she felt something familiar tugging from behind her eyes. When Kara’s perfume flooded Lucy’s head, however, she found herself thinking about how nice she looked tonight instead.

 

Kara laughed and said, “Sorry. I, uh, already looked here.”

 

“Oh. Well where haven’t you looked?”

 

“Um, well…”

 

Lucy smirked and pulled out her phone, tapping Kara’s name. Kara sighed in relief.

 

When the beginning of “Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars played from across the room, Lucy and Kara’s heads whipped around, only to land on the phone, lying sadly on the floor a foot from a potted plant.

 

“How the hell did it get there?” Lucy said, ending the call as Kara made her way to the phone and picked it up. Kara laughed a bit nervously.

 

“I must have been, um,” She looked around a bit, eyes landing on the plant, “Watering my plant! And- and it fell out of my pocket?”

 

Lucy shrugged. Kara finally regarded her phone.

 

She let out a slight, sad “Oh,” when she noticed a massive crack in her phone. Lucy had seen grown women tear up when their phones cracked, and heart-on-sleeve Kara only looked mildly inconvenienced. 

 

“How’d that happen from just falling from your pocket? With a case on it? You would had to have thrown it from across the room. Violently.”

 

Kara’s eyes widened at that. 

 

“No! That’s crazy. It must just be a crappy case.”

 

_ Too quick. Too nervous. What, does she have anger issues? _

 

But then Lucy tried to picture Kara’s features twisting in some great unreasonable anger, and decided it nearly impossible. 

 

“Uh, anyway, are you ready to go?” Kara said, grabbing her purse.

 

“Well, I mean, I’m not the one running late here.” Lucy laughed.

 

Kara just shook her head with a smile, and held the door open for Lucy.

 

“Thank you ma’am.”

 

Kara’s responding dizzing smile felt out of place for a friend’s hang out.

 

_ Meaning? _

 

_...Nothing. _

 

When they entered Lucy’s car, Lucy pulled out a cord and held her hand out to Kara.

 

“Ipod?”

 

Kara somewhat tentatively handed it over and she plugged it into the cord that connected to the radio. In typical Lucy fashion, she ignored her friend’s discomfort and immediately scrolled through all her music. Kara cringed.

 

“Wow, you have… a  _ massive _ variety of music.”

 

There were people who said ‘oh, I like all types of music’, and then there were people who didn’t dislike a single style or even seem to have a one that they liked more than all the others (???). Kara was the latter. There was pop, rock, hip-hop, country, classical, indie, and so on. There were even song titles in languages that Lucy had never heard music from.

 

She looked down shyly.

 

“Yeah, It was kind of an obsession in high school,” She adjusted her glasses and moved her hands as she spoke, “I like understanding culture through music. Understanding the culture  _ of  _ music. It’s like… looking through a window. You may not always understand what you’re seeing, but that’s not really the point. Just experiencing it is enough. I… I was actually a music minor in college.”

 

Lucy hung on to the information like it was a disintegrating puzzle piece in her hand.

 

“Don’t you have to be kind of… musical for that?”

 

Kara smirked and nodded. As usual, regarding personal information, she needed a little more prodding.

 

“Well? Did you play the bongo, or..?”

 

When Kara laughed musically, Lucy could feel the answer coming, “I sing a little.”

 

“I bet.”

 

When Kara had told Lucy she ‘painted a little’, Lucy had pictured some simple watercolor flower paintings, only to find detailed landscapes and high-quality abstract art that she originally thought Kara had bought from some furniture store. So, Lucy had high expectations for the ‘little’ that Kara could sing.

 

Lucy handed the ipod back to her and said, “Pick your current favorite.”

 

She watched as Kara bit her lip and scrolled through her music. When Kara’s thumb hovered over a song before ultimately swiping past it, Lucy pulled it out of her hands. Kara laughed briefly before saying, “Oh, that’s- that’s a little mellow for a girl’s night out.”

 

It was a song called “Sun” by some band called Sleeping At Last, and Lucy might not have clicked it but for the sheer serendipity of it’s name.

 

“I like mellow.”

 

They ended up not speaking until the song was over, but Lucy forgave the loss in interview time due to the possible insights the song gave her about Kara. They say you can learn a lot about someone from their favorite song, and maybe Lucy was reading into it too much, but she felt like she had a fuller picture of Kara. The song was a bit earnest for Lucy’s taste, and almost...religious in its love of the universe-  _ Is Kara religious? _ But it’s simultaneous hopefulness and slight tinge of sadness around the edges hinted at the something Lucy had been seeing in Kara’s own quiet edges. Lucy couldn’t help but glance at Kara’s profile, illuminated by the highway street lights, as she looked out into the night. She’d never seen sunlight  _ shimmer _ before.

 

The song immediately afterward was hardcore, just plain  _ filthy _ rap. They both laughed at the harsh change and for the remaining time talked with a slight air of giddiness. 

 

Of course, there had been an accident on the highway (which oddly dampened Kara’s mood considerably), and they ended up very late for the movie (which dampened Lucy’s). There wasn’t another showing that night, and Lucy had no interest in anything else, so they just resigned to miss some of it. Lucy figured it was just the boring present-day stuff anyway.

 

Kara refused to go snackless, so they stepped in line.

 

“So, I was surprised you didn’t know anything about this movie. It is our history, afterall.”

 

Kara stiffened slightly at Lucy’s words, but offered an easy, “I was never really into history.”

 

“Really? With all that talk of cultures and music?”

 

Kara simply shrugged and turned back to the menu on display.

 

A thought surfaced from the nethersphere, a quote from the movie The Da Vinci Code, ‘ Nobody hates history, they hate their own histories.’ It had sounded like a ton of bullshit at the time, but something in the way Kara had averted her eyes gave the quote a tentative validity. 

 

“So you genuinely don’t know what happened with the Titanic?”

 

Kara looked back to her.

 

“Nope, not a clue. I mean, I guess it had to be big, but I don’t know what sort of big it is. Is it political?”

 

Lucy laughed, “Not really, not unless you count social commentary.”

 

“I see, so social commentary is the name of the game!”

 

Lucy shrugged noncommittally, “I guess you could say so...”

 

Kara ordered two hotdogs, a large popcorn, cookie dough bites, and a large drink. Lucy was still getting used to Kara’s insane diet, but she managed to only gawk a little. Lucy, for her part, grabbed raisinets and a small coke, having eaten already for dinner. Waiting by the butter, Lucy had a joke ready for Kara’s approach that had something to do with Willy Wonka and what Kara’s workout routine must look like, but when she appeared, grinning and hugging way too much food to her chest, Lucy couldn’t find the heart to say it.

 

They settled into their seats- exactly middle of the theatre, as per Kara’s request- only having missed the present-day stuff, as Lucy predicted.

 

Only a few minutes in, Kara had finished both hot dogs and was already making her way through the popcorn. Lucy made a mental note not to try to steal any, lest she lose her hand.

 

The beginning(ish) of the movie was uneventful, and Lucy tried her best to refrain from watching Kara’s reactions  _ too _ much, but Kara was remarkably expressive and thus it proved difficult to ignore her. Kara was also definitely a talker, but luckily, the in-between-the-character’s-lines kind. 

 

When Kate Winslet stepped out of the car and lifted her head to reveal her face, Lucy felt Kara breathe in deeply next to her.

 

_ Same, Kara. Same. _

 

And when Kara practically growled as Cal put out Rose’s cigarette without her permission, Lucy felt the sentiment again.

 

“Oh, so it’s a class kind of thing? Maybe a Romeo and Juliet kinda thing?” Kara said, a little further into the movie. 

 

“Uh,” Lucy waited until Molly Brown (her second favorite character) stopped speaking, “there are elements of that, but not entirely.”

 

“Yes, well, hopefully they don’t die in this one,” she laughed, like the idea was preposterous.

 

Lucy was beginning to worry that maybe she should have warned Kara, who experienced the costumes and characters and plot points with an abundance of mirth, like everything else Kara touched. Regret settled heavily in Lucy’s stomach.

 

_ What’s the big deal? Kara’s an adult, she can handle a sad story. _

 

But Lucy had been anticipating the same kind of pleasure gained when a friend finally reaches a really sad, yet really well written part in fiction. This, as Lucy’s belatedly realized, was something different. Experiencing sadness through fiction could be cathartic. Experiencing real, historical grief is... repulsive.

  
  


Lucy felt the iceberg hit like a rush of cold water. 

 

When Kara looked at her with sadness and worry and a hint of betrayal lacing her eyes, Lucy simply looked at her, a fervent apology only just formless on her lips. 

 

Kara’s idle chatter had faded into stark nothingness from that moment. Lucy could see the pieces falling into place in her mind about what was going to happen. She didn’t look at Lucy after that.

 

When the water filled the first sections of the ship and the doors shut on the crew members, sentencing them to death, Kara sat up straighter, leaned forward. Tensed. As if she was ready to do something. As if, so choosing, she could merely jet through the screen and fix everything. 

Lucy recognized the feeling. The field could sometimes leave residual war in your veins, ready to bleed out at innocent anxieties. Sometimes Ares could claim blood as easily as through personal tragedy, or mild, extended stresses. She’d known too many who could never seem to stop bleeding. 

 

But what would haunt Lucy for the rest of the evening, what would tick at the back of her mind for much longer after that, was the question:

 

_ Why is Kara bleeding? _

 

Lucy could scarcely look away from Kara, who was so affected by the screen, oblivious to Lucy’s intrusive, guilty stare.

 

Kara’s eyes were still and wet as the action went on, as characters fought for boats, for their lives. Lucy wasn’t entirely sure Kara was taking any of it in, but for the tick of an uneven frown that pulled at Kara’s lips- as the violinists stayed behind, as the mother calmly read to her children, as the Captain watched the water rise on the other side of the windows. All of them just... waiting.

 

Kara flinched when the windows broke. Her hands were shaking.

 

Lucy, not really knowing how to make the lost look on Kara’s face  _ stop _ , placed her hand over Kara’s, stilling it. She finally looked back at Lucy. Kara tried, but her smile of reassurance came as more of a wince, and did nothing to make Lucy feel less like she’d sucker punched her friend. And then, for some reason, when Kara returned her eyes to the screen, Lucy simply didn’t remove her hand.

 

Rose’s mother and Molly Brown appeared on screen, watching the titanic sink. When one of the most potent shots of the film came up of the ship from afar, half in the water, screams reaching the boats that were safe, Kara finally spoke again.

 

“This,” She turned her wide eyes to Lucy, “This really hap-… this is all history?”

 

She was shaking harder now, and looked pale, even in the darkness. Her eyes drifted back to the screams on the screen.

 

“Kara, are you okay?”

 

She stood abruptly, still transfixed.

 

“Uh, yeah, just…” She tore her eyes back to Lucy a moment, hands drifting to her stomach. She looked somewhat confused, “just... too much popcorn.”

 

She started walking toward the exit.

 

“Kara, wait!”

 

She didn’t. Lucy trailed after Kara, blonde hair whisking into the bathroom as Lucy willed her shorter legs to keep up. When she entered the bathroom, she could hear the tell-tale cough of someone throwing up. Lucy approached the only filled stall and lifted her hand to rest on the door. 

 

“Kara?”

 

The girl cleared her throat.

 

“I’m okay,” she breathed, shakily.

 

They were quiet a moment. 

 

“Do you need help?”

 

“No, no, I-”

She threw up again.

 

“...Isn’t this the part where I hold your hair for you?” Lucy was used to drinking (and consequently throwing up) with army dudes, who rarely had enough hair to run a comb through. But she’d seen it in movies enough.

 

A quiet and confused, “Hold my hair?” echoed off the tiles. Sometimes Kara sounded so young.

 

“So it doesn’t get… you know.”

 

“Oh, uh, I wouldn’t know.”

 

They were silent a beat.

 

“Well, do you want me to-”

 

“No, I- I think I’m done now.”

 

Kara flushed the toilet and opened the door. Her eyes were red, and strands had escaped her half up hair style to fall in her face. She looked more miserable than Lucy had ever seen her, frown still pulling at her lips. 

 

Lucy reached up and gently brushed Kara’s hair back into place, offering her a small smile. Kara managed one in return.

 

“Do you want me to take you home?”

 

Kara’s smile faded and her brow furrowed.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Lucy almost laughed, “For what?”

 

“You were excited to see this, and I ruined it.”

 

“Kara, it’s not your fault-”

 

“First, I made us late-”

 

“That was because of the accident, not you.”

 

The mention of the accident only made Kara look more upset. She continued, “and now we’re leaving early…”

 

She shook her head, walked over to the sink and washed her mouth out. Lucy followed.

 

“It’s not your fault you got sick. Well, maybe if you had eaten less popcorn…” Lucy joked.

 

Kara pursed her lips, “Maybe I can just-”

 

She walked determinedly to the open entrance of the bathroom. Their theatre was directly on the other side, the poster with the Titanic illuminated by the entrance. She stopped, twisting her hands.

 

“Maybe I can...”

 

“Kara, it’s fine. I wanted you to see it, but if it’s not fun for you, I don’t want you to, like,  _ suffer through it _ . It’s just a movie.”

 

Kara looked at her sadly, reminding Lucy that it wasn’t  _ just a movie. _

 

“And… I think I should have told you about the history behind it. It was kind of mean, I didn’t realize.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m fine. It’s- It’s not a big deal.”

 

But Lucy felt like it was, even if she couldn’t put her finger on exactly  _ why _ .

 

They drove back silently, as Lucy couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t be pushy, and when Kara had asked Lucy to ‘turn the music down a little?’, she just turned it off. 

 

“Look, we’re about to drive by my apartment.” Lucy said, with a subdued excitement, so as to not disturb the quiet too abruptly.

 

“Oh, you were supposed to show me it after the movie…” Kara’s officially trademarked guilt reared it’s head within her creased forehead.

 

“That’s okay, we can do it another time.”

 

“No, no, we can do it now. I mean, i- if you want to. We don’t, like, _ have _ to. But I feel a lot better now, and it’s here, and we could end the night on a happy note.”

 

Lucy checked the time. It was only 10:30, and she was afraid that if Kara didn’t have at least a 45% positive memory of the night, she would never want to hang out with her alone again.

 

_ And then say goodbye to Operation Solar Storm. _

_...And to Kara. _

 

“Alright.”

 

Kara responded with her usual damn  _ blinding _ smile. 

 

Perhaps the night was salvageable after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a storm coming, kids. 
> 
> I have a tendency to trickle in little pieces of angst, like the random Kara's pet thing, which wasn't planned. Even the Titanic thing was comparatively not on my list. 
> 
> I have Planned Angst™ on the way.
> 
> But the next chapter will be mostly fluff (if my angst monster doesn't take control). So it's a mixed bag, what can I tell you?
> 
> Also, I try to tell you enough of what Kara is doing to let the audience know what she's thinking without actually allowing Lucy to know. If I'm not being clear enough, or if I'm hitting it over the head too much, please let me know.


	4. Leviticus: Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even first not-dates aren't for the faint of heart, apparently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait... I'm a mess, what can I tell you?
> 
> Thank you all for your lovely comments. Without them, I'd probably still be lost in a writer's block abyss.

As Lucy pulled into the closest parking space to her apartment, Kara’s smile was still dancing across her vision.

 

“You know, Kara, there are laws against high beams on the road like this.”

 

_Ugh, you actually said that out loud._

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I mean,” Lucy laughed nervously, “your smile might hurt drivers’ eyes.”

 

When she finished parking, Lucy turned to see Kara squinting at her, confused and a bit… offended?

 

“No, god! I mean. Like, in a good way. As in your smile is bright... Cause you have nice... teeth?”

 

Lucy bit back the thought that shining teeth had nothing to do with the effect of her smile.

 

Kara said, through her laugh, “Thank you?”

 

Lucy just refrained from rolling her eyes at herself and got out of the car. They walked through the lobby in easy silence (at least on Kara’s end), and Lucy spotted her still beaming quietly at Lucy’s fumbled compliment, the aura of grief around her slowly waning. Lucy found her own lips pulling upward, as always, of their own accord. It seemed making an idiot of herself wasn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world.

 

When they got into the elevator, Kara spoke again.

 

“So what am I in for?”

 

For half a second Lucy thought she was referring to her possibly incoming covert interrogation. It was a full three seconds before she responded, “In my apartment?”

 

“Yeah! Will there be like... clothes all over the place? Or will I see my reflection in the floor?”

 

“Hmm,” Lucy pretended to ponder it, “Well, what do you think?”

 

Kara leaned against the back of the elevator and cocked her head to the side, examining her. Lucy shifted her weight under the scrutiny.

 

_You’ve stared Generals and enemies and your father in the eye without issue, and Sunny Danvers makes you squirm?_

 

After a few seconds, Kara looked away, smirking down at her feet as she crossed them.

 

“Reflection in the floor, definitely.”

 

Lucy raised her eyebrow noncommittally. “Oh? You sound awfully sure.”

 

“I am.”

 

Lucy crossed her arms and acted offended, “What makes you say that?”

 

The elevator dinged and Kara gestured for Lucy to lead the way. When they were clear of the doors, Kara replied, “There are two kinds of lawyers, from what I’ve gathered through working with Cat. This special brand of sleazy that gets their energy through getting away with as much as possible, and... the other kind. The more good hearted kind of straight-laced type.”

 

“Is _Kara Danvers_ calling me straight-laced?” Lucy said, pausing in front of her door in slight outrage. Kara settled next to her, grinning.

 

“Well, _yeah_. Ish. I’m not saying you’re like… a stepford person, and I’m not exactly edgy McEdgeson...”

 

“Yeah no kidding,” Lucy said, shaking her head and opening her purse.

 

“Hey,” She put her hands up in mock defense, “I’m just saying you’re pretty straightforward. You know? No secret agenda. It’s a good thing.”

 

_No secret agenda._

 

Not even close to the first time in the past 24 hours, Lucy felt guilt surge up into her chest. She avoided responding by obviously shifting her focus to finding her keys.

 

The irony of keeping a secret to reveal a secret was not lost on Lucy, but as usual, her more practical need to _know_ the truth won out over any ideologies surrounding it. She was aware of the dissonance at play, but was choosing to suppress it.

 

Familiar metal ridges met the tips of Lucy’s fingers from deep within her purse. She allowed, for a moment, an odd but brief wave of apprehension to take hold before unlocking the door to her apartment.

 

Lucy stepped in, opening the door for Kara and gesturing dramatically at her apartment.

 

“Ta-da!”

 

“Oh, Lucy. It’s _really_ nice,” Kara said reverently, walking in toward the middle and spinning to see everything. It wasn’t _entirely_ impressive, as Lucy still needed to buy furnishings that better matched this new place than her old one in Metropolis, and she had changed her mind about some of the paintings. Kara standing there, however, made Lucy feel like she had just opened the curtains for the first time.

 

She met Kara in the middle of the room, making a show of looking around, then said, “Well, I mean, there’s no reflection, so we can’t have everything.”

 

Kara tore her eyes from the living room decor to look at her, eyebrows raised questioningly. After a beat, her eyes drifted downward.

 

Carpet.

 

Kara laughed and said, “Well, your place is immaculate, so I wasn’t exactly _wrong_ … Frankly, maybe there _is_ a reflection. Maybe we’re just not looking hard enough.”

 

She made a show of squinting at the fuzzy floor, and Lucy pushed her lightly, laughing. Well, she tried to. Kara was surprisingly sturdy.

 

_Maybe it’s all the donuts she eats._

 

“Well, don’t hurt yourself.”

 

“Wait, I think I can see it. There we are.”

 

“You should get your eyes checked.”

 

“My eyes are great, get yours checked.”

 

“... _You’re literally wearing glasses_.”

 

She reached up and to touch and then adjust them.

 

“Oh, right.”

 

Kara shrugged, and Lucy swore that she spotted a bit of the evening’s darkness return to her eyes before they caught on something across the room. They cleared of clouds, and Lucy realized Kara had spotted the rather large sculpture that stood next to the couch. Kara made her way over, and Major Lane followed in line, standing closer to her than was strictly necessary. Lucy told herself that the closer she was, the more Kara would inevitably open up. (She also conveniently forgot her vow not to use personal space as a tactic to get information.)

 

“This is beautiful,” Kara said softly, regarding the lone metal wings which were coiled around each other, fractured with shining golden cracks. She traced her fingers unnecessarily gently along these cracks, making Lucy feel oddly… vulnerable. Her breath caught in her throat.

 

“You, uh- you think so?”

 

Kara nodded resolutely, still staring, entranced by the jagged, entwined feathers.

 

“My father hates it.” Lucy continued, followed by a mirthless laugh. He’d said as much when he insisted on making sure her apartment was suitable. The location apparently met his qualifications, but the sculpture suffered under his practical-minded assessment.

 

Kara looked up rather suddenly, pursing her lips. When her eyes shifted back to the sculpture, they were a bit harder.

 

“Well, I’m not sure how much _General Lane_ knows about art, but I’ve done a fair share of scholarly reading on the matter and,” she quieted for a moment, moving her thumb across a part of the wing that was bent a little oddly, “I’ve done some sculpting myself…” She shook her head and turned fully to look at Lucy. They were close, but neither shifted to accommodate.

 

“I think it’s wonderful. Where did you get it?”

 

“Uh, some gallery a little north of Catco. I bought it on a whim. Wasn’t even shopping.”

 

“Well, sometimes it just... calls to you.”

 

They held their gentle smiles for a moment. As Lucy looked into Kara’s currently bright eyes, she realized there had been a tightness around them earlier in the evening that had since lessened considerably. The realization made Lucy exhale, audibly, in relief. When Kara’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, Lucy quickly diverted her focus.

 

She looked back at her kitchen, a bottle of wine visible atop the bar. Lucy had bought it to drink with James when she first moved in, but he was very very late that night, and she had subsequently been very much not in the drinking mood. She hadn’t mentioned her intentions with the bottle to him, so she figured now was as good a time as any.

 

“Do you want a drink?” Lucy said, gesturing toward the lone bottle.

 

“Uh, don’t you want to show me the rest of your apartment?”

 

“I can multitask.”

 

Kara laughed and abruptly broke their proximity, inching toward the kitchen.

 

“Oh, well, if you can multitask, sure.”

 

Lucy poured them both a glass. Next stop: her bedroom. She downed half of it immediately, Kara sending her a wry smile and a pointedly small sip of her wine. Lucy shook her head and lead them forth.

 

“That’s… a lot of pillows.” Kara said when they reached Lucy’s room. She wasn’t wrong. Lucy preferred her bed to be more pillow than anything else, significant others included. Half the king size was filled with them and Lucy had spares in the closet.

 

“I like to feel like I’m on a literal cloud when I sleep.”

 

Kara scrunched up her face.

 

“Trust me, a literal cloud would be a lot more wet. And cold, technically. You’d also just kinda,” She put her hand straight out, to represent what Lucy presumed was meant to be a person hovering above the bed, then dropped it suddenly, “fall through it.”

 

“Alright _Kara Danvers, local meteorologist_ , but ‘I like to feel like I’m on a really comfy bed’ doesn’t have quite the same poetic ring,” Lucy said punctuating it with a sip of her wine.

 

“I’m sorry, _Lucy Lane, local poet_ , by all means,” Kara accentuated her words with a dramatic swish of her wine, “continue your Sonnet de la Decorative Pillows.”

 

“ _Oh_ , they aren’t just decorative. If clouds felt like what they should feel like, these pillows would feel like that.”

 

Kara chuckled, “And the poetry is back.”

 

“Oh, it’s never too long.”

 

Kara chuckled and took a sip of her wine. She then grabbed Lucy’s free wrist, pushing her still practically full glass into her hand.

 

“Hold.”

 

Lucy raised an eyebrow, but she took it. Kara was all shining teeth as she jumped, face first, into Lucy’s bed.

 

Lucy had never seen such a dramatic thud in her life. Kara’s form hadn’t even bounced, it just fell to the bed- like about twenty bricks tied tightly together by a cardigan.

“Yep,” her muffled voice sounded from within the pillows, “definitely comfy.”

 

Lucy laughed and said, “You’re a nerd,” at which Kara snorted.

 

Lucy walked over to return her temporary second drink to its owner before it found a new home in her own glass. Kara flipped around to receive the wine, holding it in her hands and resting it on top of her stomach. Lucy sat next to her, leaning back (but upright enough to keep drinking).

 

_Wine before comfort, every time._

 

As Kara’s face settled into pensivity with a soft sigh, the goofiness of moments ago was gently tucked away. Her eyes roamed, not the carefully selected decor of Lucy’s bedroom, but the thoroughly blank ceiling. She stared with careful intensity that conveyed… _searching_.

 

Unsurprisingly, it prompted Lucy to perform some searching of her own.

 

This wasn’t the first time Kara seemed to quietly slip out of the current moment, if only for that moment. It was a very slight change, but she was so _present_ most of the time she could hardly get away with ever not being so. A dull moment was stark against all that yellow. Just one of the many oddities that sparked from Kara, time to time.

 

One minute, the girl would be as understandable to Lucy as the letters of her own name, written in friendly font and glittering pen on a sticky note. The next, it was as if Kara was communicating with a different language. Not vocally, per se, but Kara’s eyes and lips and sighs were trying to tell Lucy something that, somehow, she just didn’t have the tools to understand. So she instead began the work of imprinting the image of Kara’s face onto her mind, hoping to see something of her edges in the lines that formed her.

 

If not language, perhaps a map would show her uncharted territories. Or perhaps a blank space that Lucy would see and know, through its outline, what was missing.

 

Looking at Kara now, who was enraptured by the white nothing above her, Lucy wondered if Kara was filling in spaces herself.

 

“There’s something missing.” Kara spoke suddenly, still looking upward, “In your apartment.”

 

Lucy followed her eyes but failed to find her meaning within the white paint. She instead settled on a smirk and said, “More pillows?”

 

Kara grinned and shook her head. She turned to look up at Lucy, and said with entirely unnecessary awe, “ _Stars_.”

 

Lucy stared at Kara.

 

“I know my place looks pretty nice, but I don’t think I could actually afford installing a sunroof.”

 

Kara shrugged and returned to looking straight up.

 

“Then get glow stars.”

 

Lucy just chuckled and began sipping the last of her wine.

 

Kara continued, “Or, if that’s not your thing, there are certainly _other_ ways to see stars in bed.”

 

By all rights, the most conservative sex joke Kara could have possibly gone with should have passed on through without issue. Lucy should have finished drinking and replied with something witty and slightly dirtier (to assert conversational dominance), and then they _should_ have continued onto another topic.

 

Instead, Lucy _spit_ _out her wine_.

 

Kara’s head whipped around, eyes wide, as red wine was spewed all over. To Kara’s credit, she held for 5 entire seconds before bursting out in laughter, and then her hand immediately swung to cover her mouth.

 

“Oh no.” Kara exclaimed at the sight of Lucy’s unfortunately _white_ shirt, splattered with red wine.

 

“I’m so sorry!”

 

Lucy was too busy trying to calibrate her brain to make sense of the absolute _idiocy_ she had just enacted to tell Kara that it wasn’t her fault. Instead, she simultaneously felt her face grow hot and laughter bubble up, forcing her to release it and then promptly hide her face in her hands.

 

Lucy looked through her fingers at Kara, who had gotten up and was nervously fluttering around her.

 

“Is there uh-” She reached toward the fresh stains on Lucy’s shirt as if she could pick up the stains and throw them out, but then pulled her hand back just as quickly, “like, um, a stain remover? Or should we just get like… water?”

 

Lucy didn’t care about the shirt. In fact, she’d give away half her wardrobe if it’d allow her to somehow lean back into the pillows and fall through them into Wonderland. Or Narnia. Hell, she’d take the Bermuda Triangle at this point.

 

Instead she said, “Um… Yes. I have a tide stick thingy in my kitchen.”

 

Kara’s face lit up at the opportunity to do something.

 

“Well, I’ll get it!” She said, bolting for the door. Kara had already left the room and was halfway down the hallway before Lucy yelled, “You- You don’t know where it is!”

 

“I’ll find it!”

 

Lucy shook her head and plopped it in her hands. After a second of self indulgent embarrassment, she quickly got up and pulled a shirt out of her closet. She figured Kara would take a couple minutes in scouring the kitchen for the tide pen. Even Lucy was unsure of it’s location, and The Great Cellphone Search of 2016 reassured her that she’d be able to quickly switch her blouse before Kara returned.

 

In fact, Lucy was already halfway through putting on a clean shirt and halfway through congratulating herself on her typically impeccable time management skills when she heard a soft, slightly strangled, “ _Um_.”

 

Lucy swung around, arms still up in the air and halfway through the sleeves of her shirt, to see Kara’s flushed face staring at her.

 

Three things occurred to Lucy in that moment.

 

Oddly enough, the first thought was that Kara, cheeks red and mouth slightly ajar, wore her blush more endearingly than anyone Lucy had ever seen.

 

The second was that this ‘date’ ( _Hang-out!_ ), complete with a lost phone, lateness, mass historical deaths, throwing up, spit-out wine, ruined shirts and now accidental almost-nudity, was going really rather terribly.

 

The third thought, which came entirely too slowly for her liking, was that Lucy still hadn’t actually put her shirt on. Also that she looked like an idiot, arms stiff in the air and shirt only down far enough to cover her forehead.

 

It was like they’d been suspended in time and space, neither moving an inch, to just make this really supremely embarrassing moment in Lucy’s life have its full impact.

 

Kara was the first to move, spinning abruptly away from her and muttering a, “S-sorry.”

 

Lucy took a moment to evaluate how quickly she could put her shirt on, run around the bed and jump out the window, but quickly settled for a mouthed ‘what the fuck’ and clothed herself.

 

“You can… turn around.”

 

When Kara turned around, she was smiling sheepishly and adjusting her glasses.

 

“I’m sorry, I should have… um…well-”

 

“Not really anything you could have done, huh?”

 

Kara laughed, “Not really.”

 

“I just assumed you’d take longer?”

 

“Well, as uh- Cat’s assistant, I’m used to running and fetching things in a jiffy.”

 

“Oh. Yeah.”

 

Kara scratched the back of her neck and looked down. Lucy longed for the bit of wine she had spit out.

 

“Well, I mean,” Lucy said, “it’s fine. It’s not like I’m shy about that stuff anyway.”

 

Lucy could have sworn that Kara mumbled, “ _With good reason_ ,” but she couldn’t quite tell.

 

“Hmm?”

 

Kara’s head shot back up, eyes wide. Quickly, though, it shifted to a squint, then a smirk.

 

“Wait, ‘not shy’? Didn’t you _just_ spit out your wine half a minute ago because of my sex joke?” She tilted her head, “If that isn’t straight-laced, I’m not sure what is.”

 

“ _Listen_ ,” Lucy whined, prompting Kara to laugh, “if I spit out my wine, it’s because Kara Danvers, Mrs. blushes-galore and barely-sips-glasses-of-wine was the one to say it.”

 

Kara’s cheeks were distinctly not-red as she nodded indulgently and suppressed a smile.

 

“I’m sure.”

 

“I just didn’t expect it!”

 

“Well,” Kara breathed, walking over to Lucy and offering up the Tide Pen. Lucy wrapped her hand around the Pen, but Kara didn’t yet release it. Their fingers touched just the slightest amount.

 

Kara was warm. She was always warm.

 

“There’s a lot about me you wouldn’t expect,” she said with a focus that stilled Lucy’s lungs.

 

Color seared into her brain.

 

_Kara’s eyes are blue._

_Yeah, so?_

_Nothing. Just... stating a fact._

 

_Blue, blue, blue, blue._

 

The original intent of the evening stuttered into Lucy’s consciousness, past the sudden blankness and blueness of the current moment.

 

_Information._

 

“...Like what?”

 

Kara smiled and let go of the Pen, sitting back on the bed.

 

“Like… I’m actually a really heavyweight drinker.”

 

Lucy looked at her skeptically.

 

“Really! I high have a super- _uh_ \- um, a really high metabolism.”

 

Lucy sat down, facing Kara and with one leg bent underneath her.

 

“I guess that explains the food thing.”

 

She offered a little smile, glancing down at Lucy’s hands, “Notice that, huh?”

 

“A little bit,” Lucy said, opening the Tide Pen and absently working on getting the red out of her shirt.

 

“Uh, well, so I don’t drink much because it takes a lot to affect me and costs money and stuff. For instance, half your bottle of wine won’t do anything. And I don’t want to waste it, so one glass is fine.”

 

“Well, it’s not a _waste_.” Lucy said, “Unless your aim is to get me drunk. Then you should give it all to me.”

 

“But if I give it to you, neither of us will get to drink it.” She gestured to the remnants of Lucy’s wine decorating her shirt.

 

Lucy groaned and plopped her face into the bed. After a moment of laughter, she felt Kara’s hand patting her head.

 

“Do you want my wine?”

 

Lucy returned to an upright position and looked around for Kara’s glass, which had been left on her bureau at some point. Kara giggled as Lucy suddenly got up, took it, and returned to her position beside Kara.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

 

Lucy brought her lips to the glass, missing Kara’s lip gloss by an atom. Her jaw tingled as she met the cool matter, and Lucy wondered how high it’s percentage of alcohol was.

 

Lucy looked back at Kara, who was smiling and scribbling at the hopelessly vivid stain on Lucy’s blouse.

 

Unflinchingly red and white.

 

Lucy had the strange sensation that those colors were following her. Celestial blood and fine wine spilling at the hands of a Lane over and over. The drink tasted like an omen, bitter and filled with visions.

 

Kara sighed and stilled her hands, “I don’t think this is coming out.”

 

Lucy took the poor shirt and tired pen from Kara, “It’s alright, I’ll figure it out later.”

 

Lucy put the objects on her bureau. She was in mourning as Kara rose to meet her.

 

“That’ll teach me to wear white.”

 

It had been the brightest thing in her closet, and before she knew that darkness and pestilence would fall upon the night, she had found it fitting for Kara.

 

Kara shook her head vehemently, “I like you in white.”

 

Kara was always so effortless in her kindness, offering compliments and favors freely, warming every situation in incremental degrees. Lucy preferred to keep her kind thoughts close to her chest, often even more so than her unkind thoughts. It was a military way of thinking, but it had served Lucy well. Her attachments were more deliberate. A conscious choice. She didn’t treat people coldly, but she saved her warmest parts for when it mattered to her. Similarly, some people give out “I love you”s often, in small moments of affection, or even habitually. Others wait for important occasions, moments that carry more weight than all the others.

 

There is no right way to offer affection, and neither necessarily means less than the other, but Lucy was taught how to love a certain way. No, her father wasn’t cold. Just withdrawn until the more important moments. Not unloving, but _selective_. When they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, she felt loved. On her birthday, she felt loved. When Lucy accomplished, she felt loved.

 

It heightened those moments. Made them resonate. Made her achieve, even.

 

Kara, on the other hand. Her kindness and affection seeped from her pores endlessly. It made Lucy feel entirely out of her depth, emotionally.

 

“Thanks,” Lucy said, more shyly than she cared for.

 

“So is there any more to the tour?”

 

“Nope, just the bathrooms. Which are what you’d expect.”

 

“So reflections in the floor?”

 

Lucy grinned, “I don’t have carpet in my bathrooms, so yes. Reflections.”

 

“As I suspected,” Kara said triumphantly.

 

Lucy rolled her eyes and headed to the living room, prompting Kara to follow.

 

“So do you want me to take you back to your apartment now?”

 

Kara shrugged, “I mean, if you want. I’ll probably end up watching Netflix for a couple hours.”

 

“Oh,” Lucy turned, just falling short of entering the living room, “well, we could just hang out some more if you want? Unless you’re really looking forward to Netflix.”

 

She crinkled her eyes in a smile and adjusted her glasses, “No, no. It’ll still be there tomorrow.”

 

“Alright then. Let the fun commence! With like a little more wine...”

 

Lucy turned and walked a few steps, then realized Kara hadn’t followed her. When she turned around, Kara was looking closely at a small painting hung on the wall of her hallway.

 

“Oh yeah, this one is from my old apartment. I’ve been meaning to get something that matches a little better, but it works as a place holder.”

 

It was a thick oil painting, all blues and greens and blacks, depicting a ship in a storm. It had matched the blue walls of her Metropolis bedroom, but after weeks of drowning dreams, she put it away. One night, however, after James left, the walls leading to her new bedroom had looked unbearably barren.

 

“Do you think Supergirl could have saved them?”

 

Lucy tore her consciousness from crashing turquoise waves to the light blue storms behind Kara’s glasses. She searched their recent conversations in her memory for relevance, but came up empty.

 

“Who?”

 

“The, uh,” Kara laughed a bit nervously,  “passengers of the Titanic.”

 

Kara’s mouth shaped into something like a smile, something trying for levity, but it was ultimately overcome by something closer to a wince.

 

It wasn’t an unfounded question. Even before Superheros flew onto the scene, humanity had imagined saviors- individuals of great power that would appear in times of need to rescue them. And even after a savior wouldn’t come, after calamities struck and devastated history unbound by some single figure of hope, the world would daydream of a world in which they had been saved.

 

(For some reason, Lucy found herself picturing Supergirl punching Hitler in the face. It wasn’t an unpleasant image, she had to admit.)

 

When Superman appeared, many praised him as a God. Cults had sprung up and existing religions were forced to reevaluate pretty much everything. When Supergirl came out, whether because of sexism or the full realization that it wasn’t just some Jesus figure but the children of a civilization that had burned, the religious infatuations had withdrawn somewhat.

But the savior worship hadn’t.

 

_And it looks like Kara’s just as dazzled by her._

 

Lucy felt oddly angry at the thought of Kara idolizing the hero, swooning at the star. She worked hard to keep the sudden onset of resentment out of her voice.

 

“Some of them, maybe. I’m not sure how she’d save them all.”

 

Kara ducked her head and nodded, as if disappointed but unsurprised. It wasn’t the hopelessly optimistic response Lucy had grown accustomed to receiving from Kara, and it kind of unnerved her. In the short time she had known Kara, there hadn’t been a single thing she couldn’t spin just a bit more positively. Some of the time, Lucy was a bit alarmed at her naivety; occasionally, she was amused. However, an alarming portion of the time, Kara’s inexhaustible positivity felt like a lifeline.

 

Lucy backtracked, then, perhaps hoping to draw this quality back out of Kara.

 

“But, I don’t know. Maybe she could figure out a way. Heat vision the entire ocean or something. Beat up the iceberg.”

 

Kara’s laugh seemed to surprise her, erupting from her throat before her mouth could open. She was smiling as she spoke.

 

“She could just lift it up. One side of the boat,” she lifted her hands up and under the imaginary ship, “on each hand.”

 

Kara let her hands drop, then added, “Or freeze breath the water around the ship so it can’t sink.”

 

“Creating an even bigger iceberg? It’d add a touch of irony to it all.”

 

Kara nodded, untethering herself from the painting and finally following Lucy to the living room. Lucy sat on the couch and Kara followed suit, sitting next to and facing her, the wing sculpture sitting just behind her.

 

“But,” Lucy continued, “Who knows? Supergirl doesn’t really have a great track record with boats.”

 

Kara deflated visibly, and half of Lucy wanted to take the words back into her mouth and swallow them. The other half wanted Kara to agree with her.

 

“Still have that thing against Supergirl, huh?”

 

“Well, it’s nothing _against_ her-”

 

Kara gave her a withering look.

 

“Okay, maybe it is.” She said, tracing her finger along the glass’ rim. After a moment, Lucy’s mouth lifted into a smirk, and she continued, “You know, I actually saved her life the other day.”

 

Kara laughed, then, which surprised Lucy.

 

“I did!”

 

“Yeah, no, I totally believe you!” She said, but she was concealing her rising laughter very poorly.

 

“So what did you do?” Kara said, managing to suppress her amusement, “Defeat a giant monster before it could devour her? Kick a super-powered enemy’s ass with a super-powered gun?”

 

Lucy suddenly felt that the pre-bragging she had done might have oversold her accomplishment.

 

“Uh, well, I provided her with… medical assistance.”

 

“Oh!” Kara exclaimed, with a shock and enthusiasm she rather evidently didn’t feel.

 

_You’re supposed to be impressing her, not… whatever this is._

 

_Wait, no, you’re not supposed to be impressing her at all! You’re supposed to be unraveling her._

 

But the image that entered Lucy’s mind at her internal monologue featuring the word “unraveling” was not of Kara cracking under the pressure of Lucy’s questions, but more along the lines of her own hands reaching up and carefully undoing Kara’s hair. Lucy cleared her throat and returned to her mission.

 

“Yeah, but I can’t tell you too much about it,” Lucy said as Kara cocked her head, listening.

 

She continued with her most intimidating military voice, in an attempt to gain a conversational lead, “ _Or I’d have to kill you._ ”

 

There was a moment of silence as Kara’s eyebrows shot up.

 

And then Kara just… burst out laughing.

 

“Oh, that’s- that’s hilarious. Your _voice_!”

 

Lucy was somewhat dumbfounded. Most people squirmed, _at least a little_ , before Lucy would relent and said she was joking. It was a good voice. It had worked on James, and James wasn’t even afraid of her father. It had worked in the courtroom more times than she could count.

 

“You were supposed to believe me, for like, a second. At least.”

 

“Sorry?” She was still laughing, “I just can’t imagine you as like… an assassin or something.”

 

“Kara! I’m like… pretty badass, I’ll have you know.”

 

Lucy tried not to think about how un-badass that sounded.

 

“I know you’re a badass! I’m sure you’re very 007. Theme song and all. But forgive me if I don’t think you’re going to murder me.”

 

“007 means licence to kill, so I wouldn’t be too sure...”

 

“Yeah, but so far the only mission you’ve really told me about has been _patching up Supergirl_ , whom you hate. And from where I stand, you like me. So far, I feel pretty safe.”

 

“Yeah! Well! Who said I like you?”

 

Kara smiled, shook her head, and said “An anonymous source... morse code...-ed me the message.”

 

“Of course, I should have known. There’s a leak.”

 

Kara nodded vehemently, fakely ernest, but changed the topic, “So is there anything else you can tell me about your heroic rescue of Supergirl? Or is it _classified_.”

 

Lucy smirked, “Mostly classified. But you’ll be happy to know that we got along for maybe a minute.”

 

Kara’s eyebrows scrunched together, “Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah, she passed out for a bit.”

 

Kara rolled her eyes but laughed at Lucy’s joke.

 

“Well maybe you two will- uh- would start getting along more if you worked together.”

 

“I seriously doubt it.”

 

Kara sighed, seeming a bit exasperated.

 

“Why does it matter to you, anyway, Kara?”

 

“She just,” Kara lifted her hands up, punctuating her words with them “doesn’t seem… that bad!”

 

“ _Seem_ being the operative word.”

 

Kara recoiled a bit, “Why would you say that?”

 

Lucy took a sip of wine, placed the glass on the coffee table, and turned to face Kara more directly.

 

“She’s hiding something.”

 

Kara looked a little struck and not mildly concerned.

 

“...Like?”

 

“It wouldn’t be hidden if I knew.”

 

“Well, if she is, she could be hiding that she… doesn’t like avocados! For all you know.”

 

“If it were something that simple I don’t think she’d keep it a secret.”

 

“But how do you know she’s keeping a secret at all?” She said, with that all-too sympathetic look she would sometimes get like she’s walking someone through their problem, trying to help them. It ticked Lucy’s annoyance level up immediately.

 

“Because I know people, Kara.”

 

“But... not enough to know what she’s hiding.”

 

“No, I’m a lawyer, not a mind reader. But that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong.”

 

“But what if her secret, if she has one, isn’t that bad?”

 

“People don’t keep good secrets.”

 

“That’s not true.”

 

Lucy scoffed, but Kara pressed, “Lucy, you keep secrets every day. You can’t even tell me the whole story about you saving Supergirl.”

 

“That different. I’m protecting you. Protecting the organization.”

 

“And if she’s protecting something?”

 

“Like who? The DEO agents?” -Kara had let it slip that she knew where Alex worked a long time ago- “I’m no threat to them. And It’s not me she’s protecting.”

 

Kara looked like she wanted to say something, then, but stopped herself, looking down.

 

Lucy continued after a short and bitter laugh, “Herself, maybe.”

 

Kara’s eyes found Lucy’s, then, more piercing than she was used to.

 

“And is that so bad?”

 

Part of Lucy, in that moment, said ‘ _of course not_.’ But the more urgent part, the part of her that always had to press that much further, dig that much deeper, did not oblige it’s other half.

 

“Yes!”

 

Kara just looked at her, surprised and kind of... sad?

 

Lucy continued, softer. “If it endangers the people around her, yes.”

 

“But… you don’t know that it does.”

 

“The truth is always better known, because the truth is a weapon.”

 

“One you could use on her.”

 

“Use on her? Why would I use it on her?”

 

“That’s not what I meant. I just think, maybe, _she_ could thi-”

 

“But why are you even defending her in the first place, Kara? Why do you care if I like her?”

 

“W- um, well just- why are you attacking her so much? What does it matter if she has a secret? Can’t you just trust that if it could hurt you or others, that she’d reveal it? I guess it’s just… you don’t really seem to have a reason to mistrust her.”

 

“There’s no reason _to_ trust her.”

 

“That’s not how trust works.”

 

“Oh, yeah? And what would you know about that?”

 

“...What?”

 

They grew quiet, Lucy not knowing what to say that wouldn’t reveal that she was trying to figure out what it was that Kara was hiding.

 

_Welp. Way to go._

 

Lucy looked at the girl sitting across from her, whose body language had shifted from attentive to defensive during the course of their most recent conversation, a pillow in Kara’s lap like a shield. Lucy let out a breath, looking upward and trying to expel the tension they’d suddenly built up between them. This wouldn’t be the first time Lucy had burnt a bridge before it was built. But for the first time in a while, she seemed to find the bridge to be more important than discovering whatever was on the other side of it.

 

When Lucy leveled her head again, she saw that same sympathy in Kara’s eyes that had annoyed her, moments before. Perhaps it was Lucy’s calmer state, or how rightly the wings were positioned behind Kara, but Kara looked less condescending and more like she possessed every answer Lucy would ever need.

 

Before Lucy had a chance to find her voice, to fix it- Kara spoke.

 

“Not everyone is going to tell you all their secrets, Lucy. Sometimes you have to _risk it_. Wait and see how things turn out.”

 

“That’s not… easy for me.”

 

Kara offered a small smile that said ‘ _I know._ ’

 

“I guess,” Lucy struggled to find the words to explain herself, “It’s just- well, when I was a teenager, my... mom died.”

 

Kara’s brow furrowed further, but she didn’t interrupt her, and Lucy’s words came spilling out of her mouth before she could think better of it.

 

“She was sick for a while, but no one told me. My dad and my sister, Lois, knew. And they kept it to themselves.” Lucy’s hands formed into fists, pressing into her legs “To protect me, they said. But, if they had told me… I wouldn’t have been able to fix it, but- but I...” She trailed off, shaking her head.

 

“You would have done things differently.” Kara offered, gently opening Lucy’s fists and placing her own hands within them.

 

“Yeah,” Lucy said, lamely, focusing on Kara’s hands in hers.

 

“And it’s not just that. They always kept secrets, before Lois left. Hell, Lois’ leaving was a secret. And I just don’t get it. It started to feel less like- like they were ‘protecting’ me and more like it was just too hard for _them_ to say it.”

 

When Lucy looked up at Kara, her eyes were firmly resting on their hands.

 

“Maybe that’s why I became a lawyer. To reveal the truth.”

 

Kara’s eyes lifted as she spoke, “I get that, but why the military? The secrets never end, even if it would help you to know them. Why not leave that life? Like Lois did.”

 

Lucy chuckled a bit.

 

“Wanna know a secret of mine?”

 

Kara nodded cutely.

 

_Very serious._

 

“I think that’s the challenge of it. I want to know as much as I can. Not to do anything with it all, just to know because I’ve earned it. Plus, they’re sort of… upfront about their secrets. They don’t _usually_ lie, they just say ‘ _that’s classified_ ’.”

 

Kara breathed out a short laugh.

 

“But I’ve never been good with secrets from people who aren’t above me in rank.”

 

“Like Supergirl.”

 

Lucy nodded and added, “And friends.”

 

Kara looked at her with something a touch heavier than empathy, drawing her hands back to herself and leaning back. Lucy suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands.

 

“Did you know that Alex is my adoptive sister?”

 

“Yeah, James told me as much.”

 

It was the most she could pull from him, as he insisted he actually didn’t know that much about her. The fact that it was a lie had only increased her need to figure Kara out. But tonight, Lucy found herself rapidly losing interest in acquiring all of Kara’s secrets, and became more focused on just sustaining whatever relationship was forming between them.

 

Kara’s fingers absently traced the design on the pillow she was holding and she spoke quietly, “I came to live with the Danvers when I was 13, after my family died. I didn’t know they were going to die until it was happening, like you, but I got to say goodbye, for which I’m thankful.”

 

Kara seemed to look through Lucy, now, and she noticed this sort of _aura_ of grief and an impossible weight crackling around Kara in this moment. Electric and dark, all at once. Lucy had seen it before: On the way to the theater when they heard that there had been an accident. When watching the movie as she realized what was happening. Looking up at the ceiling. Looking at the painting. Moments here and there from before this night that had piqued Lucy’s interest because of their misplaced and weighty nature.

 

Lucy felt like she had just been given a rosetta stone to decipher Kara, but all she could think about was how much she wished that none of it had ever happened to her.

 

“And I’ve thought of hundreds of possible scenarios. Of how things could have been different. And in the ones in which I don’t save them, in which they still die because I’ve already exhausted every universe in which they live, sometimes I just... know what’s going to happen. I say all the things I couldn’t say in the few moments before they left me. I do more. Live harder, somehow.”

 

Kara came back to Lucy, really looking at her now, “But the truth is, most of the time, I try to stop it from happening. No matter how impossible it is for a 13 year old. I try as hard as I can, every _second_ from when I imagine that I know, to fix it. And when I fail, I always wind up back at the end of it all, with only minutes left to say goodbye.”

 

She looked down at the pillow in her lap, tracing an invisible shape on it that Lucy couldn’t quite make out.

 

“You might have made the most of it, if they had told you,” Kara said, looking at Lucy with a kind of ancient weariness in her features, as if she had actually lived every one of the lives she spoke about, “or you might have suffered the whole time, trying to stop it, or stressing about it, or just… not being able to experience the time with your mother the way she would have wanted you to. She already knew you loved her. Or- or that you lied about stealing her necklace because you broke it. Or that you didn’t mean it when you said she was the worst mom because she grounded you. She already knew.”

 

“Maybe telling her everything would have given you closure, but I think, in some ways, you got something better. You got to _live_ with her a little longer. Without waiting for it to end. Breakfast and- and ‘how was school?’ and wondering when she’d get off your back about cleaning your room. Sweeping gestures and confessions aren’t really what make up life. They’re parts of it, but life is a collection of small moments, strung together imperfectly. So I just- I don’t know. I think maybe your dad and your mom and your sister wanted to give you a little more of her life. Her _real_ life. Not the surreal purgatory between when you know it’s ending soon and when it actually does. And maybe she wanted to feel that normalcy, too. And maybe... you were the only one who could give it to her.”

 

As Kara sighed and leaned back into the couch, Lucy tried to get her emotions in check.

 

“Sorry, Lucy, I didn’t mean to lay a speech on you.”

 

Lucy, for her part, was just trying to recalibrate enough to gain human functions back, like blinking. She hadn’t expected to talk about any of this tonight, let alone-

 

“Both word vomit and actual vomit in one night.” Kara chuckled, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead, “Sorry.”

 

“No.” Lucy surfaced, finally, “It’s fine. It’s good. I… It’s just a lot to think about.”

 

“Yeah, no kidding.” She shook her head self-deprecatingly.

 

Lucy picked her wine glass back up and finished it off, “Some kind of girl-talk for some kind of fun movie night, huh?”

 

“Hey, I had fun!”

 

Lucy just looked at her.

 

“Well, _some_ of the parts were fun.”

 

They laughed together, Kara’s crinkling eyes purposefully captured in Lucy’s mind’s eye.

 

They grew quiet, both of them thinking. Lucy thought about Kara’s words and her approach to the world. How Kara had seemed shining but naive in her optimism, bouncing and bright and childish. But increasingly, it all seemed a steady, upward strength. And Lucy’s own strength seemed to herself to be all pushing and seeking, willing things forward whether that meant up or down. The crashing waves of the ocean to Kara’s steady stream.

 

Suddenly, Lucy spoke determinedly, “She would have tried.”

 

“...Your mother?”

 

“No, no. Supergirl. To save the Titanic.” -Kara gave a short nod in understanding- “Despite my aversion, and despite the fact that I think she’s overrated, I know she would have tried to save as many people as she could. And I guess that’s kind of the point.”

 

Kara’s smile was slow, but genuine. Lucy smiled back.

 

And then she looked at the time.

 

“Oh, I should probably take you home.”

 

“Oh, yeah. That.” They both rose, and Kara continued, “I am actually pretty tired, now that you mention it.”

 

_Yeah, well, with this surprise emotional rollercoaster of an evening._

 

“No Netflix tonight?” Lucy said, picking up her purse and making sure her keys were in there. Kara began following her to the door.

 

“No Netflix, unfortunately.”

 

“So, what do you watch?”

 

Kara’s responding grin was the closest thing Lucy had seen to evil upon her face, “Well-”

 

Kara gushed about her favorites with intensity as they headed down to the car, but by the time Lucy started it up, Kara was quiet. It must have been less than a minute after she’d began driving that Kara closed her eyes and rested her head on the window, seemingly dead to the world. She distracted Lucy from the road, just a bit, as the light of passing cars and street lamps coming from the window fell on her face.

_She’s beautiful._

 

Just for a moment, in the dim light of the city’s night, Lucy allowed herself to feel some freely given fondness, untethered to achievement or special occasion and not brought on because of the risk of danger. She let it fill her chest with warmth, despite the fact that she knew Kara still had something to hide, still had secrets she wasn’t telling her. Might never tell her. Lucy succumbed to that same comfortability that she’d felt from Kara since the beginning of their friendship that she had left undefined.

 

Only now, with Kara sleeping next to her and visions of her mother’s kind eyes still filling her mind, she could finally place the feeling that Kara gave her. The feeling that had struck her as so familiar, and yet inexplicably foreign. Somehow, Kara felt like…

  
_Home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classic case of an intense amount of real life responsibilities + some writer's block, friends. But let me know if my characterizations are shoddy or if you have any criticisms, since I'm just head diving back in, here.
> 
> Next up: There was more I wanted to do with this chapter beyond the not-date, but it ended up quite long, so Leviticus Part II is going to be the second part of the calm before the storm. I know, I know, there was a storm within this part of the calm before the storm. I can't help it, and I can't promise that the next chapter will be all fluff. But there will, in fact, be fluff in it.
> 
> And then... it begins.


End file.
